They lived in London's Coram Fields and had ten children together between 18. When she came of age, Fanny cohabitated with James Eaton, a horse-cab driver. Despite new legislation, many enslaved individuals remained bound to their former masters as 'apprentices' for another six years, until further laws were passed to abolish the apprenticeship clause in 1838. The Atlantic Slave Trade had been abolished in 1807, but it was only in 1834 that slavery was abolished entirely in Britain's colonies. No substantial information about Eaton's father has yet been found.Įaton and her mother left Jamaica for Britain sometime in the 1840s. The young Fanny was recorded as ' mulatto', a pejorative and outdated term once used to describe someone of 'mixed race' – it is quite possible that she had a white European father, possibly the British soldier James Entwistle (or Antwistle). Simeon Solomon (1840–1905) The Fitzwilliam Museumīorn 'Fanny Matilda Antwistle' in St Andrew, Jamaica, on 23rd June 1835, Eaton was the daughter of Matilda Foster, a former slave who had worked on the British-owned plantations. Here, we celebrate her impact on art through a selection of drawings and paintings, both in UK collections and around the world. Ferrari and Jan Marsh, curator of the exhibitions 'Black Victorians' (2005) and ' The Pre-Raphaelite Sisters' currently on at the National Portrait Gallery – have paid particular attention to Eaton.Īs well as regularly modelling at the Royal Academy, Eaton was widowed young, and was therefore a single mother to ten children for most of her life. However, a few art historians – such as Roberto C. Still today, Fanny Eaton's presence in British art history is downplayed. Whether you agree with the former or latter, it is clear that Eaton had a profound influence on painters of her era, though only in the past few years has she attracted scholarly research. Alternatively, some art historians argue that certain artists fetishised Eaton as an exotic 'Other'. Through their paintings, it could be argued that they empowered Eaton, showing her beauty in a dignified and socially conscious manner. For the artists affiliated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Eaton's beauty was virtually unparalleled. C.1859–1860, black, red & white chalk on cream wove paper by Walter Fryer Stocks (1842–1915)Įaton's presence in Pre-Raphaelite art encourages us to reconsider nineteenth-century perceptions about both race and beauty.
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