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{{short description|English artists model (1835–1909)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1909|02|24|1835|01|03}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1909|02|24|1835|01|03}}
| death_place = [[Graylingwell Hospital]], [[Chichester]], England
| death_place = [[Graylingwell Hospital]], [[Chichester]], England
| nationality = [[English people|English]]
| field = [[Model (art)]], [[Housekeeper (servant)]]
| field = [[Model (art)]], [[Housekeeper (servant)]]
| movement = [[Pre-Raphaelites]]
| movement = [[Pre-Raphaelites]]
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[[File:Fanny Cornforth Hughes 1863.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Fanny Cornforth]]
[[File:Fanny Cornforth Hughes 1863.jpg|thumb|Photograph of Fanny Cornforth]]
[[File:Bocca Baciata, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.jpg|thumb|''[[Bocca Baciata]]'', 1859]]
[[File:Bocca Baciata, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.jpg|thumb|''[[Bocca Baciata]]'', 1859]]
'''Fanny Cornforth''' (born '''Sarah Cox'''; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] and muse of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] painter [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]. Cornforth performed the duties of [[Housekeeper (domestic worker)|housekeeper]] for Rossetti. In Rossetti's paintings, the figures modeled by Fanny Cornforth are generally rather voluptuous, differing from those of other models such as [[Jane Burden|Jane Morris]] and [[Elizabeth Siddal]].
'''Fanny Cornforth''' (born '''Sarah Cox'''; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] and muse of the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] painter [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]. Cornforth performed the duties of [[Housekeeper (domestic worker)|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 [[Alexa Wilding]], [[Jane Burden|Jane Morris]] and [[Elizabeth Siddal]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life===
===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]]. She was baptised on 1 February 1835.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58350|title=Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti|last=Whittick|first=Christopher|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/58350}}</ref> [[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Fair Rosamund.jpg|thumb|''Fair Rosamund'', by Rossetti, modelled by Fanny Cornforth, 1861]]
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 [[journeyman]] [[blacksmith]]. She was baptised on 1 February 1835.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58350|title=Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti|last=Whittick|first=Christopher|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/58350}}</ref> [[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Fair Rosamund.jpg|thumb|''Fair Rosamund'', by Rossetti, modelled by Fanny Cornforth, 1861]] She was a general servant in the household of James and Louisa Worger, who had teenage children.<ref>Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity, Anne Drewery, Julian Moore and Christopher Whittick, The British Art Journal, vol. 2, no. 3 (Spring/Summer 2001), pp. 3-15- https://www.jstor.org/stable/41615066</ref>
She is recorded in the 1851 census living in Brighton, working as a house servant.<ref name="Census E&W 1851">1851 Census England & Wales, Class: HO107; Piece: 1646; Folio: 421; Page: 35; GSU roll: 193551. Retrieved 8 January 2012.</ref>


===Relationship with Rossetti===
===Relationship with Rossetti===
Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of [[Elizabeth Siddall]] 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 (Rossetti)|Found]]'', which she later described, saying he "put my head against the wall and drew it for the head of the calf picture".<ref>Marsh, Jan (1994). ''Pre-Raphaelite women : images of femininity in Pre-Raphaelite art''. London: Artus Books, p.84.</ref>
Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of [[Elizabeth Siddall]] 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 (Rossetti)|Found]]'', which she later described, saying he "put my head against the wall and drew it for the head of the calf picture".<ref>Marsh, Jan (1994). ''Pre-Raphaelite women : images of femininity in Pre-Raphaelite art''. London: Artus Books, p.84.</ref>


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",<ref>Gaunt, W, ''The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy'' (1968); Marsh, Jan, ''Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood'' (1985).</ref> but Cornforth was the name of her first husband's stepfather.<ref name = jil>Jill Berk Jiminez, ''Dictionary of Artists' Models'', Routledge, 2013, pp.129-31.</ref>
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",<ref>Gaunt, W, ''The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy'' (1968); Marsh, Jan, ''Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood'' (1985).</ref> but Cornforth was the name of her first husband's stepfather.<ref name = jil>Jill Berk Jiminez, ''Dictionary of Artists' Models'', Routledge, 2013, pp.129-31.</ref>


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]] who was married to his colleague, [[William Morris]]. Their relationship was not made public but his relationship with Cornforth was.
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]] who was married to his colleague, [[William Morris]]. 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".<ref name = "stey">[http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/boxfiles/ttcox2.html 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 Rhinocerous".<ref>[[Gordon H. Fleming]], ''That ne'er shall meet again: Rossetti, Millais, Hunt'', Joseph, 1971, p.387.</ref>
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".<ref name = "stey">[http://steyningmuseum.org.uk/boxfiles/ttcox2.html 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".<ref>[[Gordon H. Fleming]], ''That ne'er shall meet again: Rossetti, Millais, Hunt'', Joseph, 1971, p.387.</ref>


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.<ref name = mae/> 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."<ref name = "stey"/> He gave her several of his paintings, ensuring that her legal ownership was documented.
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.<ref name = mae/> 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."<ref name = "stey"/> He gave her several of his paintings, ensuring that her legal ownership was documented.


===Second marriage===
===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]], Westminster, London.<ref name = jil/> 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.<ref name = jil/> 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]], 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]].<ref name = "stey"/>
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]], Westminster, London.<ref name = jil/> 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.<ref name = jil/> 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]], 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]].<ref name = "stey"/>


===Final years===
===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]], and was being cared for by her sister-in-law, the actress [[Helen Ernstone#Family|Rosa Villiers]], who put her in the Workhouse in West Sussex against her will.<ref name = mae>[http://fannycornforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/fanny-found.html Walker, Kirsty, "Fanny Found", ''The Kissed Mouth'' Thursday, 19 March 2015]</ref> On 30 March 1907 she was admitted to the [[Graylingwell Hospital|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]] aged 74. She was buried in the district cemetery in a common grave paid for by the asylum.<ref name = mae/> 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).<ref>''Mystery of Fanny’s final resting place finally solved'', Neil Vowles, The Argus, 19 April 2015</ref> Shortly afterwards, Kirsty Stonell Walker, the author of ''Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth'', found similar.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/apr/13/discovered-lost-grave-pre-raphaelite-beauty-modelled-for-rossetti Kennedy, Maeve, "From siren to asylum: the desperate last days of Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti's muse", ''The Guardian'' Monday 13 April 2015]</ref>
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]], and was being cared for by her sister-in-law, the actress [[Helen Ernstone#Family|Rosa Villiers]], who put her in the Workhouse in West Sussex against her will.<ref name = mae>[http://fannycornforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/fanny-found.html Walker, Kirsty, "Fanny Found", ''The Kissed Mouth'' Thursday, 19 March 2015]</ref> On 30 March 1907 she was admitted to the [[Graylingwell Hospital|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]] aged 74. She was buried in the district cemetery in a common grave paid for by the asylum.<ref name = mae/> 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).<ref>''Mystery of Fanny's final resting place finally solved'', Neil Vowles, The Argus, 19 April 2015</ref> Shortly afterwards, Kirsty Stonell Walker, the author of ''Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth'', found similar.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/apr/13/discovered-lost-grave-pre-raphaelite-beauty-modelled-for-rossetti Kennedy, Maeve, "From siren to asylum: the desperate last days of Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti's muse", ''The Guardian'' Monday 13 April 2015]</ref>


==Role of Fanny Cornforth in Pre-Raphaelite art==
==Role of Fanny Cornforth in Pre-Raphaelite art==
She sat for at least 60 oils, watercolours, pastels or pencil drawings by Rossetti. These include:
She sat for circa 60 oils, watercolours, pastels or pencil drawings by Rossetti. These include:
[[File:Rossetti lady lilith 1867.jpg|thumb|''[[Lady Lilith]]'', 1867]]
[[File:Rossetti lady lilith 1867.jpg|thumb|''[[Lady Lilith]]'', 1867. ]]
* ''[[Bocca Baciata]]'', by Rossetti (1859)
* ''[[Bocca Baciata]]'', by Rossetti (1859);
*[[:Image:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - 'Fanny Cornforth', graphite on paper, 1869.jpg|''Fanny Cornforth'', graphite on paper]] (1859).
*[[:Image:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - 'Fanny Cornforth', graphite on paper, 1869.jpg|''Fanny Cornforth'', graphite on paper]] (1859);
* ''Lucrezia Borgia'', by Rossetti (1861)
* ''Lucrezia Borgia'', by Rossetti (1861);
* ''[[:Image:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Fair Rosamund.jpg|Fair Rosamund]]'' (1861)
* ''[[:Image:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Fair Rosamund.jpg|Fair Rosamund]]'' (1861);
* ''Fazio's Mistress (Aurelia)'' (1863–1873)
* ''Fazio's Mistress (Aurelia)'' (1863–1873);
* ''The Blue Bower'' (1865)
* ''The Blue Bower'' (1865);
* ''[[Lady Lilith]]'' (1867)
* ''[[Lady Lilith]]'' (1867), first version. In 1873, her features were replaced by those of [[Alexa Wilding]];
* ''[[Found (Rossetti)|Found]]'' (1869) unfinished
* ''[[Found (Rossetti)|Found]]'' (1869), unfinished.
*
* ''[[:Image:Holygrail.jpg|The Holy Grail]]'' (1874)


A small circular oil painting, 9¾ inches in diameter, made in 1862 by Rossetti and now at the [[Royal Academy]], [[London]] is unusual in that it presents a straightforward portrait of Cornforth.
A small circular oil painting, 9{{frac|3|4}} inches in diameter, made in 1862 by Rossetti and now at the [[Royal Academy]], [[London]], is unusual in that it presents a straightforward portrait of Cornforth.


Rossetti substituted<ref>Spencer-Longhurst, Paul ''The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the 1860s'' (2006)</ref> the features of another model, [[Alexa Wilding]] for Fanny Cornforth in ''Lady Lilith'' (1864–1868).
Rossetti substituted<ref>Spencer-Longhurst, Paul ''The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the 1860s'' (2006)</ref> the features of another model, [[Alexa Wilding]] for Fanny Cornforth in ''Lady Lilith'' (1864–1868).
Line 70: Line 69:


==Locations of likenesses==
==Locations of likenesses==
The following are locations of some of the recorded likenesses<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58350|title=Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti|last=Whittick|first=Christopher|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/58350}}</ref> of Fanny Cornforth:
Locations of some of the recorded likenesses<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-58350|title=Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti|last=Whittick|first=Christopher|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/58350}}</ref> of Fanny Cornforth:
* D. G. Rossetti, portrait, 1859, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]
* D. G. Rossetti, portrait, 1859, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]
* D. G. Rossetti, drawing, c.1860, [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford
* D. G. Rossetti, drawing, c.1860, [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford
Line 134: Line 133:
* [http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Corn_F.htm Center for Whistler Studies]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/biog/Corn_F.htm Center for Whistler Studies]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://www.rossettiarchive.org Rossetti Archive]
* [http://www.rossettiarchive.org Rossetti Archive]
* [http://www.preraphaelites.org Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource] includes images of Fanny Cornforth
* [http://www.preraphaelites.org Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529144625/http://www.preraphaelites.org/ |date=29 May 2009 }} includes images of Fanny Cornforth


{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood}}
{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood}}

Latest revision as of 18:36, 30 December 2023

Fanny Cornforth
Fanny Cornforth by Dante Gabriel Rossetti c 1865 Pencil on paper
Born
Sarah Cox

(1835-01-03)3 January 1835
Steyning, Sussex, England
Died24 February 1909(1909-02-24) (aged 74)
Graylingwell Hospital, Chichester, England
Known forModel (art), Housekeeper (servant)
Notable workPortrayed by Rossetti many times in pencil on paper; less frequently in red chalk (sanguine), 1860s and 1870s. Also model for Edward Burne-Jones and J. R. Spencer Stanhope.
MovementPre-Raphaelites
Photograph of Fanny Cornforth
Bocca Baciata, 1859

Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the mistress and muse of the Pre-Raphaelite 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 Alexa Wilding, Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal.

Biography

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

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 journeyman blacksmith. She was baptised on 1 February 1835.[1]

Fair Rosamund, by Rossetti, modelled by Fanny Cornforth, 1861

She was a general servant in the household of James and Louisa Worger, who had teenage children.[2]

Relationship with Rossetti

[edit]

Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddall 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".[3]

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",[4] but Cornforth was the name of her first husband's stepfather.[5]

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 who was married to his colleague, William Morris. 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".[6] 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".[7]

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.[8] 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."[6] He gave her several of his paintings, ensuring that her legal ownership was documented.

Second marriage

[edit]

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, Westminster, London.[5] 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.[5] 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, 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.[6]

Final years

[edit]

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, 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.[8] 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 aged 74. She was buried in the district cemetery in a common grave paid for by the asylum.[8] 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).[9] Shortly afterwards, Kirsty Stonell Walker, the author of Stunner: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth, found similar.[10]

Role of Fanny Cornforth in Pre-Raphaelite art

[edit]

She sat for circa 60 oils, watercolours, pastels or pencil drawings by Rossetti. These include:

Lady Lilith, 1867.

A small circular oil painting, 93⁄4 inches in diameter, made in 1862 by Rossetti and now at the Royal Academy, London, is unusual in that it presents a straightforward portrait of Cornforth.

Rossetti substituted[11] the features of another model, Alexa Wilding 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. [1] Rossetti Archive S309.

The Rossetti Archive has images of a large proportion of these.[12]

Works by other artists for which Cornforth sat include:

Locations of likenesses

[edit]

Locations of some of the recorded likenesses[13] of Fanny Cornforth:

Notes and references

[edit]
  1. ^ Whittick, Christopher (23 September 2004). "Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58350. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity, Anne Drewery, Julian Moore and Christopher Whittick, The British Art Journal, vol. 2, no. 3 (Spring/Summer 2001), pp. 3-15- https://www.jstor.org/stable/41615066
  3. ^ Marsh, Jan (1994). Pre-Raphaelite women : images of femininity in Pre-Raphaelite art. London: Artus Books, p.84.
  4. ^ Gaunt, W, The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy (1968); Marsh, Jan, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood (1985).
  5. ^ a b c Jill Berk Jiminez, Dictionary of Artists' Models, Routledge, 2013, pp.129-31.
  6. ^ a b c Steyning Museum: Fanny Cornforth
  7. ^ Gordon H. Fleming, That ne'er shall meet again: Rossetti, Millais, Hunt, Joseph, 1971, p.387.
  8. ^ a b c Walker, Kirsty, "Fanny Found", The Kissed Mouth Thursday, 19 March 2015
  9. ^ Mystery of Fanny's final resting place finally solved, Neil Vowles, The Argus, 19 April 2015
  10. ^ Kennedy, Maeve, "From siren to asylum: the desperate last days of Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti's muse", The Guardian Monday 13 April 2015
  11. ^ Spencer-Longhurst, Paul The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the 1860s (2006)
  12. ^ "Rossetti Archive". rossettiarchive.org. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  13. ^ Whittick, Christopher (23 September 2004). "Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (1835–1909), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58350. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Bibliography

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  • Daly, Gay (1989). Pre-Raphaelites in Love. New York: Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0-89919-450-8.
  • Marsh, Jan (1998) [1985]. Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 978-0-7043-0169-6.
  • Stonell Walker, Kirsty (2006). Stunner : The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth. USA: Lulu Publishing.
  • Drewery, Anne (2001). Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity. UK: With Julian Moore & Christopher Whittick, in The British Art Journal 2001:3.
  • Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1940). Letters to Fanny Cornforth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press; Baum, Paull F (editor).
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