From an early age, Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) showed great artistic talent, entering the Royal Academy's School of Fine Arts at the age of 11 and subsequently winning all the Academy prizes, both of which were unprecedented at the school. There he befriended two fellow students, William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). The three men shared a common interest in the idea that the paintings of the Renaissance of the 16th and 17th centuries and of the dominant academic art thereafter were all composed according to the same principles of light and shadow, all presented the same luminosity, and were therefore the product of the same system, both contrived and unimaginative, to the detriment of the development of individuality. So they formed a secret society in September 1848 at the home of Millais' parents in Gower Street near Bedford Square, London, and named it the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which met monthly to talk about art and advocate the idea of using the Italian master Raphael (1483-1520) as a model. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood met monthly to talk about art, advocating that the art of the Italian master Raphael (1483-1520) should be used as a model to inspire new energy in the painting world.
After the establishment of the "Brotherhood" of three, several other painters were invited to participate, and a number of paintings were published with a simple, unadorned style, clarity and brilliance, and almost photographic realism of detail.
Literature was an important source of inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who found their most meaningful subjects to be Shakespeare, Romantic poetry, medieval Arthurian tales and the Bible. Rossetti, who played the most important role in the Fraternity, had a father who was an expert on the Italian poet Dante, who was always his first name, and was particularly fond of Shakespeare. Many of the members of the fraternity painted Ophelia in Shakespeare's great play Hamlet.
In the summer of 1849, Walter Howell Deverell (1827-1854), another Pre-Raphaelite painter who was working on a painting based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, accompanied his mother to a hat store in Leicester Square. He felt that this girl, no matter her appearance or temperament, was very similar to Viola, the heroine of Twelfth Night, "your tone, your face, your body, your movements, your spirit, all aspects can prove your nobility", and felt that she was most suitable to be his model, so he asked his mother to persuade her.
In those days, in the minds of the general public, being a model was the same as being a prostitute. Some unmarried working-class children, however, were willing to do so because they could be paid up to one shilling an hour, which was better than working as a laborer. But Lizzie was reluctant at first; after a long struggle, she finally agreed.
The girl called "Lizzie", whose full name was Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (1829-1862), was born into a working-class family, living in Old Kent Road, and although she was still only 19 years old, she had a large brood of children, including a mentally challenged son.
Lige was slender and thin, fair-skinned, with curly red hair that burned like fire, and a calm and collected manner. When they met her, the other members of the Pre-Raphaelites were overwhelmed by her. Her beauty and her ability to pose for hours made her a favorite model for several Pre-Raphaelite painters who, despite her humble origins, saw her as an empress. William Rossetti described her as "tall, slender, with red-bronze hair and the face of a patient visibly consumed by disease". She was also praised as "extremely beautiful, with a demeanor ...... between noble and sweet, as if she were saying: 'My mind and my emotions are my own, and outsiders do not expect to pry into it." William Rossetti's sister, the poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), wrote the short poem "In An Artists Studio", describing her sitting in front of the painter and posing: "He dined on her face day and night And she looks back with sincere friendliness, / As fair as the moon, as cheerful as the daylight: / No need to be thin with expectation, no need to be sad with indifference; / Either she is casting down bright hopes; / Or she is fulfilling his dreams." In a letter to John Everett Millais, William Rossetti also makes special mention of her "magical resemblance" to Ophelia.
John Everett Millais created his "Ophelia" in the fall and winter of 1851. He had already been working on another painting, Huguenot.
Near Kingston upon Thames in London, near the home of the Millais family's friend Lamprill, a river Ewell flows into the Thames. Here, on the side of a hay field, under the whispering wicker, the artist found a spot that in every way seemed suitable as a backdrop for his painting. It was July of that year, and the river was full of wildflowers of all colors. After choosing this spot, he rented a cottage nearby and stayed with William Hunter. It is known from a letter from Millais to his close friend, Mrs. Coombe, dated July 2, 1851, that he began working on "Ophelia" on that day. He told his wife, "You will see me writing this letter from Kingston, where I am staying by a river for the purpose of painting Ophelia. We (Hunter and I) got up at 6 o'clock in the morning, started working about 8 o'clock, and came home at 7 o'clock in the evening." Millais has again described his work thus.
I sat cross-legged for eleven hours under a parasol casting a shadow somewhat larger than a halfpenny silver coin, and quenched my thirst by going to the brook beside me with a child's cup ...... I was still afraid the wind would blow me into the water, ...... and I felt with Ophelia The lady who had sunk in the sludge became emotionally close. The model, Elizabeth Siddal, on the other hand, felt very shy because of the sensual excitement.
Later, in order to create an effect for Elizabeth with Ophelia falling into the river, Millais let her lie in a bath full of water, with several oil lamps placed under the bath to heat the water. Once, because Millais was fully focused on painting, he did not notice that the oil lamp was out. As a result, Elisabeth caught a cold. In those days, there was no medical care and no medicine could be dispensed quickly, so Elizabeth had to be looked after by a private doctor. Elizabeth's father, an auctioneer in Oxford, was furious that his baby daughter had fallen ill and asked Millais to pay £50 for her medical treatment. In the 19th century, one pound contained 7.32238 grams of pure gold, so do the math and you know it's a lot of money. Luckily, Miss Siddal recovered soon afterwards, and things did not go any further.
In March 1852, Millais wrote to Mrs. Coombe to report: "Today, I bought a really luxurious ancient noblewoman's long dress - all embroidered with silver flowers - and I am about to paint it as Ophelia's. " Millais was talking about a beautiful ancient long dress embroidered with silver flowers that he bought from a second-hand store for £4 and had Elizabeth wear it as a model.
On March 6, Millais wrote, "I'm drawing slowly, but I hope Ophelia's head is done." And he said that both Ophelia and Huguenot could be exhibited at the Royal Academy when they were completed.
In a letter dated March 31, Millais said that to date he had only "painted the hem of Ophelia's long suit. But he was confident that he would soon be able to complete it, and expressed his hope that both paintings would have a good place as important exhibits at the Royal Academy. He excitedly told the recipient that the famous painter Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859) had been invited to see his work twice, "each time with the greatest appreciation."
Millais's Ophelia was exhibited at the same time as Arthur Hughes's (1832-1915) painting of the same name at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1852. Hughes's Ophelia shows a pale, sickly Ophelia, staring blankly at the water and the clusters of flowers as they slowly sink into the stream. Millais' "Ophelia" depicts Ophelia sinking calmly into the water in the embrace of nature with flowers in full bloom. Unlike Shakespeare's depiction of Ophelia's madness and sadness as she makes a garland, Millais shows Ophelia floating on the water, her head, hands, and clothes not sinking; the dark black water has dipped to her waist, but the handful of flowers she holds in her hands are still floating on the water, indicating that the rest of her body will soon sink, but not yet, precisely at the moment when she is between life and death; and her expression is neither Her expression was neither frightened nor desperate, her skin even showed the red color symbolizing life, and she was still staring with her eyes open and singing. Some researchers have praised Millais's depiction of Ophelia in this painting as an expression of the Christian spirit. Art historians recognize Millais's 30-inch by 40-inch Ophelia as not only his finest work, but also the finest of all paintings depicting Ophelia; it is an important part of the collection of the Tate Gallery in London, making Ophelia immortal again after Shakespeare.
Compared to Ophelia, the second half of her double's life was much darker.
Several Pre-Raphaelite painters saw Lygia Siddal as their ideal model, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti claimed her as his only muse and fell deeply in love with her. However, his family disliked the woman's humble origins and strongly disagreed with their marriage. So the two of them lived in the "Blackfriars", an old district of London that was much worse than the one where Lygia had lived. At first, her lover painted her portrait with fascination, and taught her to draw and write poetry, which was quite romantic. They then separated for a time, reunited, and married in 1860. But she was often ill, not only with tuberculosis, but also refused to eat for many days, much like anorexia. After Rossetti fell in love with another model, her condition worsened with depression and opium use, and she finally died of an opium overdose. At the coffin, Rossetti dedicated one of his poetry manuscripts to her as a martyrdom. But it was later taken out again in an open casket for publication. Her soul was never able to be as quiet as Ophelia's.
