Beata Beatrix, Dante Rossetti, 1869.
What would be like to be valued more as an image than a living human? To be a muse first and a lover second ? What value would one place on one's life in a subculture where death is idealised beautifully?
What would it have been like to have done lived and died as Elizabeth Rossetti?
Even if you have only a minimal understanding of art, you will have seen her face. The pale, slender neck and sensuous mouth reproduced dozens of times by the artists of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood, most notably by her husband Dante Rossetti. However, you may not know much of her short and miserable life, or that she herself was a talented poet.
Together, we will consider the events and motives leading to her suicide, at the age of 28, on 1862.
Of her cause of death, there is no reasonable doubt . Overdose of an opioid, most likely laudanum. As Jerome H. Buckley wrote in The Pre-Raphaelites :
"She died- ill and neurotic - from a deliberate dose of sedative. "
What is of interest are the details of her short life, the treatment (and possibly abuse) of her peers, and her own thoughts - as expressed in her poetry.
We shall begin with a brief summary of her life.
Elizabeth was born into a working class family in 1834. In her teens, she worked as a milliners assistant, where she was "discovered " by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They considered her an ideal form of the 'new beauty ' because of her ethereal appearance and dignity. She began modelling for them, and was also taught to write poetry and to paint. Most famously, she posed for Ophelia by J E Millais in the winter of 1851 to 1852. In the role of the drowned heroine she had to pose in cold bath water and became seriously ill. She became attached to Dante Rossetti and soon posed only for him. They were married in 1860, at which time her health was very poor (to be discussed in depth later). Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1861 and began suffering from postpartum depression. Soon after, she was pregnant a second time, but died before giving birth.
To Be Continued ...
Of her cause of death, there is no reasonable doubt . Overdose of an opioid, most likely laudanum. As Jerome H. Buckley wrote in The Pre-Raphaelites :
"She died- ill and neurotic - from a deliberate dose of sedative. "
What is of interest are the details of her short life, the treatment (and possibly abuse) of her peers, and her own thoughts - as expressed in her poetry.
We shall begin with a brief summary of her life.
Elizabeth was born into a working class family in 1834. In her teens, she worked as a milliners assistant, where she was "discovered " by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They considered her an ideal form of the 'new beauty ' because of her ethereal appearance and dignity. She began modelling for them, and was also taught to write poetry and to paint. Most famously, she posed for Ophelia by J E Millais in the winter of 1851 to 1852. In the role of the drowned heroine she had to pose in cold bath water and became seriously ill. She became attached to Dante Rossetti and soon posed only for him. They were married in 1860, at which time her health was very poor (to be discussed in depth later). Elizabeth gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1861 and began suffering from postpartum depression. Soon after, she was pregnant a second time, but died before giving birth.
To Be Continued ...
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