IMAGES OF FANNY MURRAY in the BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTION

BRITISH MUSEUM : IMAGES OF FANNY MURRAY 

Like many of today's celebrities, Fanny Murray's image and lifestyle was an important aspect of promoting her in her youthful years and satisfied the public's curiosity. Original art was turned into prints, making it possible for more people to possess an image of her. It wasn't all positive publicity. She was also poked fun of.  For instance, one of the satirical images at the British Museum is of her having her toes washed by a maid while three men leer and perhaps wait their turn to spend time with her.

Fanny lost her looks as she aged and she knew it.

The lifestyle she lived was hard on women in it and many of her peers died before they reached old age. Many of them also did not have the opportunity or ability to invest or save for their senior years. Then again, they lived in a time when many women died in child-birth or because they gave birth to many children, zapping what strength or fortitude they were blessed with genetically. When I learned that she had been 'losing her health' for years and the reason for her death was unknown or undisclosed, but that for about six weeks prior to it she was seen by good doctors, I took a guess that she died of some form of cancer.