Biography of Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth 1835-1909
Before 03 Jan 1835 [her father] William Cox (age 21) and [her mother] Jane Woolgar (age 21) were married.
On 03 Jan 1835 Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth was born to William Cox (age 21) and Jane Woolgar (age 21) at Steyning, Sussex. She was baptised on 01 Feb 1835.
In 1847 [her mother] Jane Woolgar (age 33) died.
1854. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 25). "Found". Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 18).
1858. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 29). Drawing of Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 22).
1858. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 29). Fair Rosamund. Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 22).
Around 1858. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 29). Drawing of Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 22).
In 1859 [her father] William Cox (age 45) died.
1859. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 30). Bocca Baciata. Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 23) aka "mouth that has been kissed". The first of Rossetti's single female figures which thereafter became his signature style. The flowers in the background are marigolds, a white rose in her hair. An apple on the balustrade. The title from the Italian proverb from the last line of the Seventh story of the Second Book of Boccacio's Decameron "Bocca baciata non perde ventura, anzi rinnova come fa la luna" aka "The mouth that has been kissed does not lose its good fortune; rather, it renews itself just as the moon does."
Around Aug 1860 Timothy Hughes and Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 25) were married. At some time thereafter she adopted the surname Cornforth, the surname of her husband's stepfather.
On 11 Feb 1862 at twenty past seven in the morning Elizabeth Siddal (age 32) overdosed on laudanum at 14 Chatham Place. Possibly suicide - there may have been a note that said "look after Harry (her invalid brother)" which Ford Madox Brown (age 40) persuaded Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 33) to burn. Shortly after her death Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 27) moved into the family home to become housekeeper to Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 33).
1865. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 36). Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 29).
1865. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 36). "The Blue Bower". Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 29).
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1854. 19 May 1865. Dined with Rossetti (age 37) and Fanny (age 30) and Howell at Chelsea. Settled to take för 50 eleven selected pencil studies of heads, R. in addition giving me one of a new model he has got to sit.
The Diary of George Price Boyce 1854. 22 May 1865. Rossetti (age 37) sent down by Pope 13 pencil studies of heads, of which 2 (one of Ellen Smith and another ¾ of a new model) are gifts.
The other 11, viz, 3 of Fanny Cornforth (age 30), 2 of Ellen Smith, 1 of Ada, 1 of Mrs. Morris of Upton, £10, 1 of the negro boy, 1 of a negro girl, 1 of Mrs. Eaton, and 1 of Marie Ford I pay £60 for.
1867. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 38). "Lady Lilith". Watercolor. Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 31). Painted after the original Lady Lilith. On a label attached to its frame is a verse from Goethe's Faust translated by Shelley:
"Beware of her fair hair, for she excells
All women in the magic of her locks,
And when she twines them round a young man's neck
she will not ever set him free again."
In Oct 1872 [her husband] Timothy Hughes died.
Between 1873 and 1878. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 39). Study for "Laus Veneris". Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 37).
In Nov 1879 John Schott and Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 43) were married after which they ran the Rose Tavern.
In 1891 [her husband] John Schott died.
On 30 Mar 1907 Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 72) 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."
On 24 Feb 1909 Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 74) died.
