ElizabethSiddal, an apprentice milliner was formerly requested by Mrs Deverell to modelfor her son Walter. Walter courted her, but she only had eyes for Rossetti whowooed her with poetry, but failed to name the day. She devoted herself to art,receiving critical acclaim from Ruskin. Rossetti's tormenting and life with theartists did not suit her delicate constitution, and with the death of Walter,her health began to fail. After years of broken promises, the philanderingRossetti eventually married her but laudanum and miscarriages shortened herlife. She died tragically young of an overdose. Rossetti buried his poems withLizzie, but later exhumed the body in order to publish them.

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