Sketch for 'La Belle Dame sans merci'
Datec. 1855
Artist
Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal
(English model, painter, and poet, 1829–1862)
MediumGraphite on paper
Dimensionsimage: 4 1/8 × 2 7/8 in. (10.5 × 7.3 cm)
frame: 10 1/2 × 9 1/8 in. (26.7 × 23.2 cm)
frame: 10 1/2 × 9 1/8 in. (26.7 × 23.2 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2007
Object number2007-32
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThis drawing is typical of Siddal’s naive, linear style. An inscription on the reverse indicates that it was an ‘idea’ for “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” a poem by John Keats. Although first received into the Pre-Raphaelite circle as a model, Siddal soon began creating drawings like this one, taking lessons from Rossetti. The critic John Ruskin took her under his wing, giving her a stipend to continue her artistic studies.
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