Fanny Cornforth was discovered by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti as she had dinner at an event celebrating Florence Nightingale's return from the Crimean War. From that point onwards, she became one of the most divisive characters in Pre-Raphaelite art history. Rossetti's friends found her common and abrasive and his subsequent biographers labelled her a lying, thieving, illiterate sex worker whose worst crime was to become fat and old. Fanny Cornforth was actually a resourceful, compassionate woman who nursed Rossetti during his severe periods of mental illness and was generous to her fellow models. It is time to appreciate a woman who was as clever, caring and cheerful as she was beautiful.
Found c.1854
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Oil on panel
H 30.3 x W 35.8 cm
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery
Lucrezia Borgia 1860–1861
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Graphite & watercolour on paper
H 43.8 x W 25.8 cm
Tate
Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898)
Black chalk with bodycolour on paper
H 60.2 x W 102.9 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Fanny Cornforth 1861
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Coloured chalks on paper
H 32.2 x W 25.9 cm
The Higgins Bedford
Fair Rosamund 1861
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Oil on canvas
H 51.9 x W 41.7 cm
Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Graphite on paper
H 38.9 x W 35.6 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Fanny Cornforth – A Portrait Head
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Graphite on paper
H 23 x W 16 cm
Southend Museums Service
Study for 'Venus Verticordia' c.1863–c.1864
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Graphite on paper
H 50.5 x W 36.9 cm
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Aurelia (Fazio's Mistress) 1863–1873
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Oil on mahogany
H 43.2 x W 36.8 cm
Tate
The Blue Bower 1865
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Oil on canvas
H 84 x W 70.9 cm
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Fanny Cornforth II 2010
Karen Jones (active 2010)
Acrylic on board (?)
H 100 x W 60 cm
Southend Museums Service
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