Kirsty Stonell Walker

I really wanted to like this and the premise was great but the execution fell through. How come there was so much art by the male artists and not nearly as much by the women— some of the women artists mentioned didn’t even get any of their art pictured. And there was so little discussion of the actual art in favor of the biographical info. What were the women painting? What ideas did they convey in their art? How did it differ from their male counterparts? There could be some really interesting comparisons and discussion but that didn’t happen in this book. Also, the contemporary portraits of the women weren’t particularly great and took up so much space that could have been dedicated to art by the women.… (mais)

The famous Pre Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti primarily used three stunning models for his paintings. Each became a muse and a lover. Not much is known about Fanny Cornforth. What is documented about Fanny is through a Victorian male perspective and is unkind, snitty and undeserved.

Fanny clearly did not fit the traditional idea of Victorian beauty. She was heavy, she was uneducated, she was matter of fact, common sensical and lacked what were deemed the social graces.

While Rosetti was a brilliant artist, he was needy, self-centered, manipulative and a blatant user of all who entered is circle. In the hypocritical Victorian age, these were the traits attributed to Fanny. When Dante felt the least bit guilty for his indiscretions, his selfishness that drove Lizzie Siddall to suicide, his original abandonment of Jane Burden, his distasteful debauchery and cruelty, he projected angrily and negatively onto Fanny!

The loyal puppy Fanny stayed with Rossetti even after he discarded her and yet selfishly threw a treat once in awhile to play with her emotions. His friends ostracized her because she did not sip tea while holding a china cup, smiling every so slightly.

Fanny was as Rossetti's portraits portray, a large, beautiful, lusty woman who looked at the world straight on, shoulders squarely displayed, double chin evident, eyes piercing with bright hair cascading round her face.

This excellently written book shines a clear light on the Victorian era when women were arrested for prostitution and portrayed as whores while the men who were engaged in these acts were unscathed and blameless This was an era of blame. Those who were poor were perceived as at fault. Women who were used were made to learn their place. Those who tried to overcome poverty and escape destitution were reminded in hundreds of ways that they simply could never aspire to anything but the gutter.

I like Fanny. She got out of the gutter and no matter how often the elite tried to push her back down, she simply refused to be treated like an animal.

Accused of being a liar, a murderess, a whore and a thief, Fanny rose above. In fact, as the author shows, long after Rossetti's life ended as a result of his drug and alcohol addictions, it was Fanny Cornforth who was helpful in preserving his art.

Fanny was, as Walker portrays her, a Stunner!… (mais)