Mrs. Fanny Eaton, Walter Fryer Stocks, circa 1859

This is a portrait of the mixed-race model fanny eaton, who moved with her mother, a former slave, from jamaica to london in the 1840s. Married to a cab driver in 1857, eaton worked as a cleaner and cook while posing for many pre-raphaelite painters—including dante gabriel rossetti, who adapted her distinctive beauty to fit different ethnic roles—hebrew, african, indian—in biblical and genre scenes. Best known as a minor landscape watercolorist, walter fryer stocks was still a teenager when he made this highly finished drawing, in which he used a meticulous stippled chalk technique to highly expressive effect, conveying an alluring and introspective sensuality in the sitter’s asymmetrical glance and parted lips. Date: circa 1859. Place of creation: London, England. Dimensions: height: 43.2 cm (17 in); width: 34.9 cm (13.7 in). Medium: paper, white chalk. Collection: Princeton University Art Museum. Stocks, Walter Fryer, Mrs. Fanny Eaton, ca. 1859