Rosa Corder
Encyclopedia
Rosa Frances Corder was a Victorian artist and artist's model. She was the lover of Charles Augustus Howell
, who is alleged to have persuaded her to create forgeries of drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
.
and Frederick Sandys and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Grosvenor Gallery
. Her portrait of Edward Bouverie Pusey
was considered "the best likeness" of the scholar by the editors of his collected works and was engraved as the frontispiece to his biography.
She had a studio in Southampton Row and another in Newmarket, where she painted racehorses, building a reputation among the sporting fraternity. She painted both animals and portraits of jockeys, including Frederick Archer.
as "one of those plain-beautiful women who are far more attractive than some of the pretty ones. She had wonderful hair – like a fair pale veil, a white waxen face and a very good figure; and she wore very odd clothes." According to James McNeill Whistler's biographer Stanley Weintraub
she "exuded sexual appeal and knew it".
Corder became the lover of Charles Augustus Howell in 1873. Howell is alleged to have persuaded her to create drawings in the style of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
, which Howell could pass off as originals. Corder is also said to have forged Fuselis. Drawings derived from Rossetti's stained glass window designs depicting the story of Saint George and the Dragon
are attributed to her.
In 1883 Corder gave birth to a girl by Howell; their daughter was christened Beatrice Ellen Howell.
. The portrait was commissioned by Howell. Whistler may have had a dalliance with her at the time. She was also portrayed by Mortimer Menpes
. Her relationship with Howell was caricatured by Max Beerbohm
in Rossetti and his Circle
(1922).
Charles Augustus Howell
Charles Augustus Howell was an art dealer and alleged blackmailer who is best known for persuading the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti to dig up the poems he buried with his wife Elizabeth Siddal...
, who is alleged to have persuaded her to create forgeries of drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
.
Career
Corder was the daughter of Micah Corder (1808-88), a London merchant, and Charlotte Hill. She trained as a portrait painter under Felix MoschelesFelix Moscheles
Felix Stone Moscheles was an English painter, peace activist and advocate of Esperanto.Born in London, Felix Moscheles was the son of the well-known pianist and music teacher Ignaz Moscheles and husband of the painter Margaret Moscheles. His godfather, after whom he was named, was Felix Mendelssohn...
and Frederick Sandys and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Grosvenor Gallery
Grosvenor Gallery
The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé...
. Her portrait of Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey was an English churchman and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.-Early years:...
was considered "the best likeness" of the scholar by the editors of his collected works and was engraved as the frontispiece to his biography.
She had a studio in Southampton Row and another in Newmarket, where she painted racehorses, building a reputation among the sporting fraternity. She painted both animals and portraits of jockeys, including Frederick Archer.
Relationship with Howell
Corder was described by Ellen TerryEllen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
as "one of those plain-beautiful women who are far more attractive than some of the pretty ones. She had wonderful hair – like a fair pale veil, a white waxen face and a very good figure; and she wore very odd clothes." According to James McNeill Whistler's biographer Stanley Weintraub
Stanley Weintraub
Stanley Weintraub is a professor, historian, and biographer. He is an expert on George Bernard Shaw. Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub, followed by siblings Herbert and Gladys...
she "exuded sexual appeal and knew it".
Corder became the lover of Charles Augustus Howell in 1873. Howell is alleged to have persuaded her to create drawings in the style of Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
, which Howell could pass off as originals. Corder is also said to have forged Fuselis. Drawings derived from Rossetti's stained glass window designs depicting the story of Saint George and the Dragon
Saint George and the Dragon
The episode of Saint George and the Dragon appended to the hagiography of Saint George was Eastern in origin, brought back with the Crusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance...
are attributed to her.
In 1883 Corder gave birth to a girl by Howell; their daughter was christened Beatrice Ellen Howell.
As model
Corder was painted by Whistler in his Arrangement in Black and Brown, in the Frick CollectionFrick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City, United States.- History :It is housed in the former Henry Clay Frick House, which was designed by Thomas Hastings and constructed in 1913-1914. John Russell Pope altered and enlarged the building in the early 1930s to adapt...
. The portrait was commissioned by Howell. Whistler may have had a dalliance with her at the time. She was also portrayed by Mortimer Menpes
Mortimer Menpes
Mortimer Luddington Menpes , was an Australian-born artist, author, printmaker and illustrator.-Life:...
. Her relationship with Howell was caricatured by Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
in Rossetti and his Circle
Rossetti and His Circle
Rossetti and His Circle is a book of twenty-three caricatures by English caricaturist, essayist and parodist Max Beerbohm. Published in 1922 by William Heinemann, the drawings were Beerbohm's humorous imaginings concerning the life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his fellow Pre-Raphaelites, the...
(1922).