The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood began as a reaction to the Royal Academy of Art and the academy's acceptance of what they thought of as staid art, such as that of Joshua Reynolds or Turner. Seeking the "truth" in painting, the small group sought lovely models who, to them represented purity. The were rosy-cheeked ladies with long flowing hair, and soft, lovely features that made them what the brotherhood coined as "stunners."

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Siddal worked as a milliner at a hat shop. Her family was poor. Her father spent his life in a useless battle to obtain what he thought his rightful inheritance. Because herr father's attempts were unfruitful, Lizzie at 19, had to seek gainful employment. Tall, with grey eyes, heavy lids and thick, rich red hair, she was spotted and was convinced to become a model. This was not a suitable profession in Victorian England, still she was drawn by the bohemian lifestyle, the thrill of praise, and of becoming one of the very first models for the small group of painters.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millias and William Hunt found her angel-like and all of them, in varying times, used her as their model.

Her family did not approve of her lifestyle, and thus eventually, she became the mistress of Rossetti. A narcissistic cad, he loved, but used her, and it wasn't until her near death that he married her.

Her image looks out from many Pre-Raphaelite paintings, but she is best know as the model in John Everett Millias'
rendition of the love-lost character of Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Lying in a tub of water, lit by candles at the bottom of the tub, soon Millias, enraptured with his work, forgot to continue to keep the water warm.
Many believe this led to Lizzie's poor health, laudanum addiction and eventual death.

Forever captured on the canvas, best known as one of the premier stunners, her life was a sad one. Forever desolate by Rossetti's refusal to marry, and his continued cheating, she overdosed on laudanum. She was buried with Rossetti's book of poems, and forever haunted him.

Hiring men to dig her grave so that his poems could survive, even in death, he defiled her.

While Rita Cameron's portrayal is in novel form. It is very obvious that she did a lot of research in painting Lizzie as a beautiful, talented woman, stuck in Victorian time. forever a muse and stunner. ( )

Ophelia's Muse by Rita Cameron was an enriching five star book about the artist Gabriel Rossetti & his model Elizabeth Siddal.

The fact that he postponed marrying her for so long was a reflection on the selfishness of his character. He was too involved in establishing his art & organization, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

I found it interesting to read a fictional account about the artist's works that have lasted since the mid-1800's.

I would like to thank Kensington Books & NetGalley for the complimentary kindle copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. This did not influence my opinion. ( )

Elizabeth Siddel was born in 1829 to a family barely eking out a living in genteel poverty; a family prosperous a few generations past but no longer. She is brought up to read and value books and art, but is forced to spend her days working at a milliner’s shop, making hats for fashionable ladies, and turning her wages over to her mother. But one day an opportunity arises; a young artist, Walter Deverell, comes into the shop with his mother, and is taken by Lizzie’s beauty and her red hair. He wants her to pose for him. In those days, artist’s models were considered no better than prostitutes, frequently sleeping with the artist’s they sat for. But an arrangement is made; a respectable female chaperon will be provided, Lizzie will make far better wages than she does sewing hats, and her job will be held open for her. While sitting for Deverell, his friend and fellow member of the newly formed pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, sees Lizzie and is smitten. Her life takes a considerably less respectable turn after this.



Theirs’s was a relationship filled with obstacles. Rossetti was from a well to do family, and Lizzie’s situation was not acceptable to them- even before she started sleeping with Rossetti. Plus, Rossetti felt that a wife would mean establishing a house and being conventional, which would distract him from the art he was devoted to. There were also issues of opiate addiction, near constant infidelity, and Lizzie’s isolation from her family once she became Rossetti’s mistress. The brilliant artist Rossetti was, in many ways, a spoiled child. These days, his art redeems him, but he could not have been an easy person to love.



This sounds like I’m giving away the whole plot, but I’m not. I knew these facts before I read the novel, and it still absorbed me. Lizzie and Dante came alive in these pages. While the members of the PRB are fairly well known today, the models still are not. Life for women in that era was very circumscribed, and anyone who stepped outside the lines of respectability had a very hard time of it.



The author describes things in detail without getting bogged down. The clothing, the art, the houses, all spring into the reader’s mind in full color. The characters are rounded and real; there are no villains here, just people trying to do the best they can. A great fictionalized biography; anyone with interest in the pre-Raphaelites should give this book a go. ( )