Here Elizabeth Siddal is seen in Rossetti's studio at 14 Chatham Place, Blackfriars, London, drawing his portrait by lamplight. Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal first met in the winter of 1849-50. She acted as a model for several important Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and from 1852 began to sit regularly to Rossetti, who also described her as his pupil in letters to his sister Christina. A large proportion of her surving work as an artist dates from 1853-55, although no portrait by her of Rossetti is known to survive. The National Portrait Gallery owns a reproduction of this work (no. D9348).
Recently the identity of Rossetti has been questioned (Christopher Newall). Is Rosetti drawing an imagined scene of himself in this scene or is it in fact someone else close to the Rossetis?