Smitten by the Casual Glance of a Pair of Sparking Eyes

Elizabeth Siddal, born on July 15, 1829, is a forgotten figure in history. Largely defined by her romantic and tragic relationship with Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the legacy of Siddal’s life focused primarily on her personal life, chronicling her illness and later suicide. Studies of her professional life as an artist in her own right are limited, even though Siddal was an artist making a yearly income surpassing her male counterparts. Her public reputation exhibited modern qualities atypical of the late 1850s. This research aims to represent Siddal not just as the tragic muse persona that dominated scholarship, and seeks to surpass the vague claims that Siddal was an independent artist. Siddal, at least in her public persona and qualities that she, herself, contributed to her public reputation, exhibited qualities of the New Woman of the later Victorian Era