Fanny Cornforth (born Sarah Cox; 3 January 1835 – 24 February 1909) was an English artist's model, and the mistress and muse of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Cornforth performed the duties of housekeeper for Rossetti. In Rossetti's paintings, the figures modelled by Fanny Cornforth are generally rather voluptuous, differing from those of other models such as Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal. Biography Early life Cornforth, born Sarah Cox, on 3 January 1835, at Steyning, Sussex, was the daughter of Jane, née Woolgar (bap. 1814, d. 1847) and William Cox (bap. 1814, d. 1859), a blacksmith. She was baptised on 1 February 1835. She is recorded in the 1851 census living in Brighton, working as a house servant. Relationship with Rossetti Cornforth met Rossetti in 1856, and became his model and mistress in the absence of Elizabeth Siddall whom Rossetti married in 1860. Many biographers presumed Siddall disliked Cornforth, but there is no proof that Siddall 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 short-lived. The couple separated. It is not known for certain when she adopted the name "Fanny Cornforth", but Cornforth was the name of her first husband's stepfather. After Siddall's death in 1862, Cornforth moved into the widowed Rossetti's home as his housekeeper. The affair between them lasted until Rossetti's death. For much of the time Rossetti was engaged in an off-and-on relationship with Jane Morris who was married to his colleague, William Morris. Their relationship was not made public but his relationship with Cornforth was. Cornforth came from the lower/rural working class of English society. Her coarse accent and lack of education shocked Rossetti's friends and family. Rossetti's brother William Michael Rossetti praised her beauty, but said "she had no charm of breeding, education, or intellect". Many never accepted her and pressured Rossetti to end the affair. Over the course of their relationship, Cornforth gained weight. Much has been made of this by biographers, but the growing girths of both Rossetti and Cornforth was a mutual joke. His pet name for her was "My Dear Elephant" and she called him "Rhino". When they were apart,