[Illustration: ELIZABETH SIDDAL, BY ROSSETTI]
The artist’s brother writes of her that she was truly a beautiful
girl,--tall, with a stately throat and fine carriage, pink and
white complexion, and massive, straight, coppery golden hair. Her
heavy-lidded eyes were large and greenish blue. But, as this narrator
says, it is not necessary to speak much about her appearance, “as
the designs of Dante Rossetti speak for it better than I could
do.” Her whole manner, in spite of her great beauty, was reserved,
self-controlling, and “alien from approach.” Rossetti’s brother says
that her talk was, in his experience, scanty; slight and scattered,
with some amusing turns, and little to seize hold upon; little clue to
her real self, or anything determinate.
But, alas! the beautiful Elizabeth was a sufferer from consumption,
accompanied by neuralgia. For the neuralgia frequent doses of laudanum
had been prescribed. Her condition was such toward the end that
sometimes she was obliged to take one hundred drops at a time. On
February 10, 1866, she dined at a hotel in London with her husband and
Swinburne. She and Rossetti returned to their home about eight o’clock.
She was about to go to bed at nine, when Dante Gabriel went out again.
When he came back at half-past eleven the room was in darkness. He
called to his wife; but received no reply. He found her in bed,
unconscious. On the table was a vial. It had contained laudanum--it was
empty.
He paid her the tribute of burying his poems with her. He had already
paid her the great tribute of painting her, and that often. Those
large, greenish blue eyes of hers were his guiding stars. Let him who
will say that he rides fastest who rides alone. There are six great
artists--and many more--to say him nay.
[Illustration: BEATA BEATRIX, BY ROSSETTI
_A portrait of Elizabeth Siddal._]
_SUPPLEMENTARY READING_
[Illustration]
Fra Filippo Lippi _Edward C. Strutt_
Rembrandt and His Work (8 vols.) _Wilhelm Bode_
Rembrandt _R. Muther_
The Rossettis _Elisabeth Luther Cary_
L’Oeuvre de P. P. Rubens _Maximilian Rooses_
Rubens (Masterpieces in Color Series) _S. L. Bensusan_
Andrea del Sarto _H. Guinness_
Sir Anthony Van Dyck _Lionel Cust_
[Illustration]
_QUESTIONS ANSWERED_
Subscribers desiring further information concerning this subject can
obtain it by writing to
_The Mentor Association_
_381 Fourth Avenue, New York City_
[Illustration: LUCREZIA FEDI, BY ANDREA DEL SARTO]
_THE WIFE IN ART_
_Andrea del Sarto and Lucrezia Fedi_