Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Womanica. Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller,
Speaker 1: to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage,
Speaker 1: disappearing into new identities. For others, a disappearance was the
Speaker 1: end to their stories, but the beginning of a new
Speaker 1: chapter in their legacies. This month, we're talking about disappearing
Speaker 1: acts today. A muse and a model from a tumultuous
Speaker 1: time in art and history. As a black, working class woman,
Speaker 1: she stood out against the white Victorian beauty standards at
Speaker 1: the time. Her likeness is featured in museums around the world,
Speaker 1: and yet she lived a life of obscurity. We don't
Speaker 1: have any of her own words. What we know is
Speaker 1: from public records and paintings. Even in art history, she's
Speaker 1: often overlooked. Many don't know her name. Well, it's Fanny Eaton.
Speaker 1: Fanny was born in Jamaica in eighteen thirty five. Since
Speaker 1: there's no father listed on her birth certificate, historians assume
Speaker 1: he was a white man, likely a British soldier. Fanny
Speaker 1: was born just after England abolished slavery in the colonies.
Speaker 1: Her mother Matilda had been enslaved. She moved to England
Speaker 1: a few years later and brought Fanny with her. It
Speaker 1: was a time of major change in social upheaval throughout
Speaker 1: the British colonies. Whispers of rebellion and independence were starting,
Speaker 1: and in the heart of England, working class movements were
Speaker 1: taking hold. Still, Victorian England was rife with racist and
Speaker 1: classist ideas. Scientific racism was in vogue. This belief that
Speaker 1: there was a natural hierarchy favoring superior races, was used
Speaker 1: to justify slavery and colonialism. Matilda, with Fanny in tow,
Speaker 1: took up a typical working class life in London. She
Speaker 1: found work as a laundress and Fanny worked as a servant.
Speaker 1: When she was twenty two years old, Fanny married James Eaton,
Speaker 1: a horse cab driver. They started having kids. Fanny kept working.
Speaker 1: Then she met someone, an artist, Simeon Solomon. He was
Speaker 1: a painter from a large Jewish family. His paintings often
Speaker 1: depicted Jewish figures and heroines, and he was looking to
Speaker 1: make them more historically accurate. It's not entirely clear how
Speaker 1: Fanny met Simeon, but it's likely he saw her on
Speaker 1: the Street and he saw his muse. Simeon asked Fanny
Speaker 1: to pose for him. She made her public debut in
Speaker 1: his painting The Mother of Moses. Fanny went on to
Speaker 1: pose for Simeon's sister Rebecca, and then for more young
Speaker 1: artists who became part of a rebellious movement at the time.
Speaker 1: The pre Raphaelites, as they came to be known, were
Speaker 1: frustrated by how the art of their day focused on
Speaker 1: the mundane. Instead, they wanted much to grapple with major moral, social,
Speaker 1: and religious questions, and they did so in bright colors.
Speaker 1: They also had a preference for intense detail and realism.
Speaker 1: While Renaissance artist Raphael and his followers had painted religious
Speaker 1: figures as glossy ideals, pre Raphaelites preferred to capture the
Speaker 1: specific features of their subjects, which is why many of
Speaker 1: them loved Fanny. Her high cheekbones, wide eyes, and textured
Speaker 1: hair added depth and dimension to their work, and while
Speaker 1: many black subjects were painted in subservient or background roles,
Speaker 1: Fanny was front and center. Fanny became amused not only
Speaker 1: for Simeon, but for many other painters at the time.
Speaker 1: She was often a generic stand in for the other
Speaker 1: any exotic identity the painters needed. Fanny stopped modeling in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight. Why it's not clear, We can only speculate.
Speaker 1: Just a few years later, Simeon, the artist who found her,
Speaker 1: faced criminal charges for alleged homosexual activity, which was a
Speaker 1: crime at the time. The public scandal that followed ruined
Speaker 1: his career. He never recovered and eventually died from alcoholism.
Speaker 1: So Fanny disappeared from art. The rest of what we
Speaker 1: know comes from public record. Her husband John died, leaving
Speaker 1: Fanny a single mother to their ten children. She worked
Speaker 1: as a seamstress to support them. In nineteen oh one,
Speaker 1: she appeared briefly as a cook to a merchant family
Speaker 1: on the Isle of Wight. Fanny died on March fourth,
Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four, from natural causes. She was eighty nine
Speaker 1: years old. Fanny's likeness is included in dozens of paintings
Speaker 1: from a prominent time in art history. You can find
Speaker 1: her face in some of the world's top museums, from
Speaker 1: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the
Speaker 1: Victoria and Albert Museum in London. All month we're talking
Speaker 1: about disappearing acts. For more information, Find us on Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Womanica Podcast special thanks to Lose Kapelan,
Speaker 1: my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow