Fanny Cornforth
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the
mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...
and muse of the
Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Cornforth performed the duties of housekeeper for Rossetti. In Rossetti's paintings, the figures modelled by Fanny Cornforth are generally rather voluptuous, differing from those of other models such as
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband William ...
and Elizabeth Siddal.


Biography


Early life

Cornforth, born Sarah Cox, on 3 January 1835, at Steyning, Sussex, was the daughter of Jane, ''née'' Woolgar (''bap''. 1814, ''d''. 1847) and William Cox (''bap''. 1814, ''d''. 1859), a
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
. She was baptised on 1 February 1835. She is recorded in the 1851 census living in Brighton, working as a house servant.1851 Census England & Wales, Class: HO107; Piece: 1646; Folio: 421; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193551. Retrieved 8 January 2012.


Relationship with Rossetti

Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of
Elizabeth Siddall Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall (25 July 1829 – 11 February 1862), better known as Elizabeth Siddal, was an English artist, poet, and artists' model. Significant collections of her artworks can be found at Wightwick Manor and the Ashmolean. Siddal ...
whom Rossetti married in 1860. Many biographers presumed Siddall disliked Cornforth, but there is no proof that Siddall even knew of her existence. Cornforth's first role was as to model the head of the principal figure in the painting '' Found'', which she later described, saying he "put my head against the wall and drew it for the head of the calf picture". Three months after Rossetti's wedding Cornforth married mechanic Timothy Hughes, but the relationship was short-lived. The couple separated. It is not known for certain when she adopted the name "Fanny Cornforth", but Cornforth was the name of her first husband's stepfather.Jill Berk Jiminez, ''Dictionary of Artists' Models'', Routledge, 2013, pp.129-31. After Siddall's death in 1862, Cornforth moved into the widowed Rossetti's home as his housekeeper. The affair between them lasted until Rossetti's death. For much of the time Rossetti was engaged in an off-and-on relationship with
Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband William ...
who was married to his colleague,
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
. Their relationship was not made public but his relationship with Cornforth was. Cornforth came from the lower/rural working class of English society. Her coarse accent and lack of education shocked Rossetti's friends and family. Rossetti's brother William Michael Rossetti praised her beauty, but said "she had no charm of breeding, education, or intellect".Steyning Museum: Fanny Cornforth
/ref> Many never accepted her and pressured Rossetti to end the affair. Over the course of their relationship, Cornforth gained weight. Much has been made of this by biographers, but the growing girths of both Rossetti and Cornforth was a mutual joke. His pet name for her was "My Dear Elephant" and she called him "Rhino". When they were apart, he drew cartoons of elephants and sent them to her, often signing himself "Old Rhinoceros". After Rossetti's health started to decline seriously, his family became more directly involved in his life. Cornforth was forced to leave Rossetti's house in 1877. Rossetti paid for a house for her nearby, writing to her "You are the only person whom it is my duty to provide for, and you may be sure I should do my utmost as long as there was a breath in my body or a penny in my purse." He gave her several of his paintings, ensuring that her legal ownership was documented.


Second marriage

Cornforth's estranged husband died in 1872. While separated from Rossetti, she became involved with John Schott, a publican from a family of actors. Schott divorced his first wife, who was already living in a bigamous marriage with another man, to marry her. He married Fanny almost immediately after the divorce, in November 1879. The couple ran the Rose tavern in
Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers. Hist ...
, Westminster, London. Cornforth nevertheless repeatedly returned to Rossetti to nurse him, accompanying him to Cumbria in 1881. After Rossetti's death, she and her husband opened a Rossetti gallery in 1883 to sell some of the works she owned. Her husband John died in 1891, after which she lived with her stepson Frederick. During this period she was visited by Rossetti collector
Samuel Bancroft Samuel Bancroft (January 21, 1840 – April 22, 1915) was an American industrialist as well as a major collector of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artwork. His appreciation for art and his desire to give back to the community led to his becoming a p ...
, who was able to buy paintings and other memorabilia from her. Her correspondence with Bancroft is held as part of the collection at the Delaware Art Museum.


Final years

After the death of her stepson in 1898, she moved back to Sussex to stay with her husband's family. By 1905 she was apparently suffering from
dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
, and was being cared for by her sister-in-law, the actress Rosa Villiers, who put her in the Workhouse in West Sussex against her will.Walker, Kirsty, "Fanny Found", ''The Kissed Mouth'' Thursday, 19 March 2015
/ref> On 30 March 1907 she was admitted to the West Sussex County Lunatic Asylum, the records of which state that she was suffering from "senile mania, confusion, weak-mindedness and an inability to sustain a rational conversation, a poor memory and sleeplessness." She remained at the asylum for the rest of her life. After a fall that broke her arm in September 1907 she began to decline and contracted bronchitis in September 1908. On 24 February 1909 she died of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
aged 74. She was buried in the district cemetery in a common grave paid for by the asylum. The discovery about her final days was first made at West Sussex Record Office by Christopher Whittick, the biographer of Fanny Cornforth for the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (ODNB). Shortly afterwards, Kirsty Stonell Walker, the author of ''Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth'', found similar.


Role of Fanny Cornforth in Pre-Raphaelite art

She sat for at least 60 oils, watercolours, pastels or pencil drawings by Rossetti. These include: * '' Bocca Baciata'', by Rossetti (1859) * ''Fanny Cornforth'', graphite on paper (1859). * ''Lucrezia Borgia'', by Rossetti (1861) * ''
Fair Rosamund Rosamund Clifford (before 1150 – ), often called "The Fair Rosamund" or "Rose of the World" (Latin: ''rosa mundi''), was a medieval English noblewoman and mistress of Henry II, King of England, who became famous in English folklore. Life ...
'' (1861) * ''Fazio's Mistress (Aurelia)'' (1863–1873) * ''The Blue Bower'' (1865) * ''
Lady Lilith ''Lady Lilith'' is an oil painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti first painted in 1866–1868 using his mistress Fanny Cornforth as the model, then altered in 1872–73 to show the face of Alexa Wilding. The subject is Lilith, who was, according to ...
'' (1867) * '' Found'' (1869) unfinished * '' The Holy Grail'' (1874) A small circular oil painting, 9 inches in diameter, made in 1862 by Rossetti and now at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, is unusual in that it presents a straightforward portrait of Cornforth. Rossetti substituted the features of another model,
Alexa Wilding Alexa Wilding (born Alice Wilding, c. 1847 – 25 April 1884) was one of the favourite models of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, featuring in some of his finest paintings of the later 1860s and 1870s. She sat for more of h ...
for Fanny Cornforth in ''Lady Lilith'' (1864–1868). A few fine finished coloured chalk portraits include one drawn in 1874 on pale green paper, 22 x 16 in. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Rossetti Archive S309. The Rossetti Archive has images of a large proportion of these. Works by other artists for which Cornforth sat include: *'' Sidonia von Bork'', by Edward Burne-Jones, 1860.


Locations of likenesses

Locations of some of the recorded likenesses of Fanny Cornforth: * D. G. Rossetti, portrait, 1859,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
* D. G. Rossetti, drawing, c.1860,
Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
, Oxford * D. G. Rossetti, portrait, 1865,
Barber Institute of Fine Arts The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham. The Grade I listed Art Deco building was designed by Robert At ...
, Birmingham * D. G. Rossetti, portrait, 1870, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery * E. Burne-Jones, portrait * J. R. S. Stanhope, portrait * Photograph, University of Manchester Library, Charles Fairfax Murray collection, MS 1282 photographs 3 * Photograph, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington * Photographs,
National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...


Notes and references


Bibliography

* * * * *


External links


Center for Whistler Studies

Rossetti Archive

Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource
includes images of Fanny Cornforth {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornforth, Fanny 1835 births 1909 deaths Women of the Victorian era English artists' models Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists' models Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Muses