As champion of the Pre-Raphaelites Ruskin had greatly promoted Dante Gabriel Rossetti. One of Rossetti's most often used models was Lizzie Siddal, almost all of his early paintings of women are portraits of her. She was also Millais's model for Ophelia (1852), the painting which has caused all those Japanese Schoolgirls to feel so suicidal. Rossetti was so taken with Lizzie that he insisted she model for him exclusively.
Eventually they became lovers. Because of her humble origins however, his scholarly family were bitterly opposed to any marriage between them so the two lived together in slatternly surroundings in London's Blackfriars.
Eventually they became lovers. Because of her humble origins however, his scholarly family were bitterly opposed to any marriage between them so the two lived together in slatternly surroundings in London's Blackfriars.
While her lover painted her obsessively, Lizzie learned to draw and to compose good poetry. And when her paintings took the eye of arch taste-maker Ruskin, it seemed her future was assured.
Ruskin bought all her work to date, settling an annuity of £150 on her for future paintings.
She was now almost respectable, but the relationship with Rossetti was becoming more and more strained. His portraits show her becoming more wraith like by the year, for Lizzie was deathly ill with tuberculosis.
She could not feel at home with those of her husband's artist friends who tried to encourage her, because she was jealous of the other models and threw hysterical tantrums.
Ravaged by her TB, for which she took deadening amounts of laudanum, Lizzie withdrew into a world of her own. Though doctors prescribed trips to healthy British seaside resorts and even the South of France, poor Lizzie showed no signs of improvement.
She was getting thinner by the day while Rossetti betrayed her with frequent sexual conquests with the more nubile models he now preferred.
Even the presence of the ever-faithful Ruskin - by now disabused of his earlier beliefs about womanhood - could not cheer her up.
Lizzie's relationship with her lover Rossetti became a torture of rows and reconciliations and by the time he finally took pity on her and resolved to marry her on his 32nd birthday in May 1860, she was too weak to climb the steps to the church.
The ceremony went ahead a fortnight later, when she'd recovered her strength, and they set out for Paris where they spent the last of the little money they had.
The final blow for Lizzie came the following year when she gave birth to a stillborn girl. Then, after an evening out in Leicester Square with her husband, they returned to their damp rooms in Blackfriars and Lizzie took to her bed for the last time.
When Rossetti found her later she was fading fast. Beside her was an empty laudanum phial and pinned to her nightgown was a note asking her husband to look after her disabled brother. Rossetti called in four doctors but his wife was beyond hope.
Ruskin bought all her work to date, settling an annuity of £150 on her for future paintings.
She was now almost respectable, but the relationship with Rossetti was becoming more and more strained. His portraits show her becoming more wraith like by the year, for Lizzie was deathly ill with tuberculosis.
She could not feel at home with those of her husband's artist friends who tried to encourage her, because she was jealous of the other models and threw hysterical tantrums.
Ravaged by her TB, for which she took deadening amounts of laudanum, Lizzie withdrew into a world of her own. Though doctors prescribed trips to healthy British seaside resorts and even the South of France, poor Lizzie showed no signs of improvement.
She was getting thinner by the day while Rossetti betrayed her with frequent sexual conquests with the more nubile models he now preferred.
Even the presence of the ever-faithful Ruskin - by now disabused of his earlier beliefs about womanhood - could not cheer her up.
Lizzie's relationship with her lover Rossetti became a torture of rows and reconciliations and by the time he finally took pity on her and resolved to marry her on his 32nd birthday in May 1860, she was too weak to climb the steps to the church.
The ceremony went ahead a fortnight later, when she'd recovered her strength, and they set out for Paris where they spent the last of the little money they had.
The final blow for Lizzie came the following year when she gave birth to a stillborn girl. Then, after an evening out in Leicester Square with her husband, they returned to their damp rooms in Blackfriars and Lizzie took to her bed for the last time.
When Rossetti found her later she was fading fast. Beside her was an empty laudanum phial and pinned to her nightgown was a note asking her husband to look after her disabled brother. Rossetti called in four doctors but his wife was beyond hope.
