Born into a working-class family, Siddal, fascinated by poetry since her youth, accessed the group via modelling. Beginning her artistic pursuits in 1852, she was mostly self-taught bar some training from Rossetti, who instilled in her his love of Gothic forms and medieval subjects. Drawing influence from historic and contemporary poetry, Siddal’s watercolours often featured dreamlike, romantic, chivalrous scenes. But, after suffering from depression, she died, aged thirty-two, from an overdose of laudanum. She had only exhibited twice. Although Rossetti buried her with a book of his poems,
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