Century old mystery uncovered in Chichester Record Office

Fanny Cornforth

English artists model (–)

Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January &#; 24 February ) 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

Early life

Cornforth, born Sarah Cox, on 3 January , at Steyning, Sussex, was the daughter of Jane, née Woolgar (bap.

, d. ) and William Cox (bap.

Hospital clip art

Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January – 24 February ) 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.

, d. ), a journeymanblacksmith. She was baptised on 1 February [1]

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

Relationship with Rossetti

Cornforth met Rossetti in , and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddall whom Rossetti married in 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 , 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.

Airport picture Even if you don’t know her name, you’ll certainly know her face. The beauty behind iconic Pre-Raphaelite paintings Bocca Baciata, The Blue Bower, Found, Fair Rosamund, images reproduced on everything from baby body-suits to Thermos food jars, Fanny Cornforth is best known as the model and muse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

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 [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

Cornforth's estranged husband died in 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 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 After Rossetti's death, she and her husband opened a Rossetti gallery in to sell some of the works she owned.[5] Her husband John died in , 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

After the death of her stepson in , she moved back to Sussex to stay with her husband's family.

By 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 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 she began to decline and contracted bronchitis in September On 24 February she died of pneumonia aged 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

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

These include:

A small circular oil painting, 93&#;4 inches in diameter, made in 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 (–).

A few fine finished coloured chalk portraits include one drawn in on pale green paper, 22 x 16 in. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. [1] Rossetti Archive S

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

Works by other artists for which Cornforth sat include:

Locations of likenesses

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

  • D.

    G. Rossetti, portrait, , Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

  • D. G. Rossetti, drawing, c, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
  • D. G. Rossetti, portrait, , Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham
  • D.

    Fanny Cornforth - Wikipedia: The last days and resting place of Fanny Cornforth have been revealed in a patient case book from the former Graylingwell Hospital held at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester.

    G. Rossetti, portrait, , Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

  • E. Burne-Jones, portrait
  • J. R. S. Stanhope, portrait
  • Photograph, University of Manchester Library, Charles Fairfax Murray collection, MS photographs 3
  • Photograph, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington
  • Photographs, National Portrait Gallery, London

Notes and references

  1. ^Whittick, Christopher (23 September ).

    "Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (–), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.&#;1 (online&#;ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Fanny cornforth hospital picture Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January – 24 February ) 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.

    doi/ref:odnb/ (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

  2. ^Drewery, Anne; Moore, Julian; Whittick, Christopher (). "Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity". The British Art Journal. 2 (3): 3– ISSN&#;
  3. ^Marsh, Jan (). Pre-Raphaelite women&#;: images of femininity in Pre-Raphaelite art.

    London: Artus Books, p

  4. ^Gaunt, W, The Pre-Raphaelite Tragedy (); Marsh, Jan, Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood ().
  5. ^ abcJill Berk Jiminez, Dictionary of Artists' Models, Routledge, , pp
  6. ^ abcSteyning Museum: Fanny Cornforth
  7. ^Gordon H.

    Fleming, That ne'er shall meet again: Rossetti, Millais, Hunt, Joseph, , p

  8. ^ abcWalker, Kirsty, "Fanny Found", The Kissed Mouth Thursday, 19 March
  9. ^Mystery of Fanny's final resting place finally solved, Neil Vowles, The Argus, 19 April
  10. ^Kennedy, Maeve, "From siren to asylum: the desperate last days of Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti's muse", The Guardian Monday 13 April
  11. ^Spencer-Longhurst, Paul The Blue Bower: Rossetti in the s ()
  12. ^"Rossetti Archive".

    . Retrieved 7 December

  13. ^Whittick, Christopher (23 September ).

    General hospital pictures The last days and resting place of Fanny Cornforth have been revealed in a patient case book from the former Graylingwell Hospital held at the West Sussex Record Office in Chichester.

    "Cornforth [other married names Hughes, Schott], Fanny [née Sarah Cox] (–), artists' model and intimate companion of Dante Gabriel Rossetti". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol.&#;1 (online&#;ed.). Oxford University Press. doi/ref:odnb/ (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Bibliography

  • Daly, Gay ().

    Pre-Raphaelites in Love.

  • Fanny Cornforth - Wikipedia
  • Century old mystery uncovered in Chichester Record Office

    • New York: Ticknor & Fields. ISBN&#;.

  • Marsh, Jan () []. Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood. London: Quartet Books. ISBN&#;.
  • Stonell Walker, Kirsty ().

  • Item 24 of 24
  • Century old mystery uncovered in Chichester Record Office
  • Elizabeth Fanny Cornforth (1829-1887) - Find a Grave Memorial
  • Item 7 of 24

    • Stunner&#;: The Fall and Rise of Fanny Cornforth. USA: Lulu Publishing.

  • Drewery, Anne (). Re-presenting Fanny Cornforth: The makings of an historical identity. UK: With Julian Moore & Christopher Whittick, in The British Art Journal
  • Rossetti, Dante Gabriel ().

    Letters to Fanny Cornforth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press; Baum, Paull F (editor).

External links