Rossetti was obsessed with Beatrice, sometimes the literary figure from Dante’s ‘Vita Nuova’, other times that from the Divine Comedy. He was also obsessed with his models Lizzie Siddall and Jane Morris.
Siddall
Four months being bitten to death by midges, then a winter of immersing the model in a bath of tepid water. This masterwork didn’t come easy for anyone.
The Eclectic Light Company 