Fanny Cornforth. Fanny Cornforth was an Englishwoman who became the artist's model and mistress of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Later, Cornforth performed the duties of housekeeper for Rossetti. William Michael Rossetti, the artist's brother, wrote that she was a pre-eminently fine woman with regular and sweet features, and a mass of the most lovely blond hair-light-golden, or 'harvest yellow'.
In Rossetti's paintings, the figures modeled by Fanny Cornforth are generally rather voluptuous, differing from those of other models such as Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal. It is believed that Cornforth's real name was Sarah Cox, and that she was born in Steyning, West Sussex, the daughter of a blacksmith.
She is recorded in the 1851 census living in Brighton, working as a house servant. Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddal whom Rossetti married in 1860, under the impression that she was dying.
Many biographers presumed Siddal disliked Cornforth, but there is no proof that Siddal 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 sh
Later, Cornforth performed the duties of housekeeper for Rossetti. William Michael Rossetti, the artist's brother, wrote that she was a pre-eminently fine woman with regular and sweet features, and a mass of the most lovely blond hair-light-golden, or 'harvest yellow'.
In Rossetti's paintings, the figures modeled by Fanny Cornforth are generally rather voluptuous, differing from those of other models such as Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal. It is believed that Cornforth's real name was Sarah Cox, and that she was born in Steyning, West Sussex, the daughter of a blacksmith.
She is recorded in the 1851 census living in Brighton, working as a house servant. Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddal whom Rossetti married in 1860, under the impression that she was dying.
Many biographers presumed Siddal disliked Cornforth, but there is no proof that Siddal 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 sh
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