Fanny Eaton 1835-1911
Portrait by Dante Gabriel Rosetti
One of the most interesting things about the current exhibition
of Pre-Raphaelite Sisters at the National Portrait Gallery are the images relating to the model, Fanny
Eaton.
Portrait by Walter Fryer Stocks around 1859
Fanny was born in Jamaica's St Andrew Parish in 1835. Her
mother, Matilda, was said to be a slave, but her father was never named. She
became involved with the Pre-Raphaelite circle between 1859 and 1867 by which
time she was living in London's Shoreditch, and had married the cabbie, James Eaton. In-between the drudgery of raising their ten children and working as a domestic
servant, Fanny had another means of support – posing as an artists' model at
the Royal Academy.
After featuring in Simeon Solomon's famous painting, The
Mother of Moses, she drew the attention of other artists in the PRB circle,
including Millais and Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Despite racial prejudices of the
times, Fanny was described by Rosetti as having 'a very fine head' and being of 'incomparable
beauty'. With her grace, waving hair, and strong profile, she is not that unlike his lover and muse, Jane Morris.
Fanny Eaton in Millais' painting Jephthah - in the yellow hood on the right
Sadly, her allure did not bring wealth or fame. She
spent her later years working as a cook on the Isle of Wight, eventually dying
of old age and 'senility' in 1911, in a daughter's home in Acton. But her face, her grace, and beauty still live on in many paintings, and not only as the token exotic in the scenes, but often as the main character.
Perhaps of all the paintings of Fanny in this exhibition the one below might be a favourite. Fittingly it was created by one of the 'sisters'. It is the elegant study by Joanna Boyce Wells' in preparation for the never to be realised painting based on a Libyan sibyl.
Study by Joanna Boyce Wells,
The Pre-Raphaelite Sisters exhibition is currently at the National Portrait Gallery, from 17 October 2019 to 26 January 2020
Excellent!
ReplyDeleteI used to lecture in art history yet I don't recognise some of the names (eg Joanna Wells, Annie Miller, Fanny Eaton) in the exhibition. Do you think the women were actively written out of art history by the male Pre-Raphaelites, the patrons and critics?
Worse still, Jan Marsh and Pamela Gerrish Nunn's pioneering catalogue listed 20 women as Pre-Raphaelite women artists but they acknowledged that no information is available in The Victorian Web on 11 of the women named. I will order the exhibition catalogue.