Fanny Cornforth
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Fanny Cornforth (c. 1835 - c. 1906)[1] was a model and housekeeper for Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She was born in the small Sussex town of Steyning.
Cornforth met Rossetti in 1858, and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddal. When Siddal returned in 1860, Rossetti married Siddal, believing her to be dying. In response, Cornforth married mechanic Timothy Hughes, but she did not remain with Hughes for very long. After the death of Rossetti's wife in 1862, Cornforth moved in with him as his housekeeper. It is presumed by many biographers that Siddal had not liked Cornforth, but there is no real proof that Siddal even knew of her existence. The relationship between Rossetti and Cornforth would last until Rossetti's own death. For much of this time Rossetti was in an off-and-on affair with Jane Morris, but because she was married to his friend, William Morris, that relationship was not out in the open.
The relationship with Cornforth, however, was. Cornforth came from the lower/rural working class of English society. Her coarse accent (possibly assumed for comedic value as she actually was born and raised in the countryside) and presumed lack of education often shocked Rossetti's friends and family. She was never accepted by many of them and at times they pressured Rossetti to end the relationship.
Over the course of their relationship, Cornforth gained weight. Much has been made of this by biographers, but it was a mutual joke between them for the growing girths of both Rossetti and Cornforth. His pet name for her was my "Dear Elephant" and she called him "Rhino". He drew cartoons of elephants for her which he sent to her when they were apart.
In Rossetti's paintings, Cornforth appears as a fleshy blonde, in contrast to his more ethereal treatments of Jane Morris and Siddal.
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[edit] Paintings of Fanny Cornforth
Those in major galleries include:
- Bocca Baciata, by Rossetti (1859)
- Lucrezia Borgia, by Rossetti (1861)
However, she sat for at least 60 in all by Rossetti, some of them oils, some watercolors, some pastels or in pencil. The Rossetti Archive has images of a large proportion of these.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ The dates of birth and death are uncertain. Jan Marsh discusses the topic at some length in Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, pp 139-40, 353, 377, 397.
[edit] Bibliography
- Daly, Gay (1989). Pre-Raphaelites in Love. New York: Ticknor & Fields.
- Marsh, Jan (1995). The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. UK: Quartet Books.
- 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.
