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Fanny Eaton

Sitter Fanny Eaton (née Antwistle/Entwistle) British, born Jamaica
October 2, 1860
Not on view
This sitter was born Fanny Entwistle in Jamaica in 1835 to a Black mother recently freed from slavery. Her father may have been a white Scottish soldier who died soon after her birth. Mother and daughter moved to London in the 1840s, where Fanny married a horse-cab driver in 1857 and began to model for artists by 1859. Her biracial features helped Solomon breathe new life into Old Testament subjects. The young artist explored his Jewish heritage and followed Pre-Raphaelite precepts when he added authentic archaeological details to biblical compositions. He used studies of Fanny to reimagine ancient Hebrew heroines as dark-skinned and Semitic rather than white European. This drawing—dated October 2—is, however, more of a sensitive portrait than a study "in character."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Fanny Eaton
  • Artist: Simeon Solomon (British, London 1840–1905 London)
  • Sitter: Fanny Eaton (née Antwistle/Entwistle) (British, born Jamaica, 1835–1924)
  • Date: October 2, 1860
  • Medium: Graphite
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 8 1/16 in. × 7 in. (20.4 × 17.8 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
  • Object Number: 2021.16.28
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Miriam Watching the Finding of Moses in the Bulrushes, Simeon Solomon British, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite
Miriam Watching the Finding of Moses in the Bulrushes
Simeon Solomon
February 22, 1859
Smallsword, Steel, gold, textile, British
Smallsword
British
ca. 1780–1810
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd, Caspar David Friedrich German, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite, with white opaque watercolor; partial framing lines in pen and brown-black ink
Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd
Caspar David Friedrich
1805–6
Dawn (Head of Hypnos), Simeon Solomon British, Blue, red, brown and black chalk; framing lines in black chalk
Dawn (Head of Hypnos)
Simeon Solomon
1901 (?)
Portrait of a Young Man (recto); Sketch of a Venus (verso), Richard Parkes Bonington British, Black and white chalk on blue-gray paper
Portrait of a Young Man (recto); Sketch of a Venus (verso)
Attributed to Richard Parkes Bonington
1820–23

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