A Portrait of Emily Bronte: The MINIATURE, The PAINTING and The DRAWING. The colour of Emily’s eyes “Their colour might be said to be dark grey, at other times dark blue, they varied so.” Reminiscences of Charlotte Brontë. Ellen Nussey.
“... In July, 1879, I paid a visit to Haworth and had an interesting interview with Martha Brown, the faithful servant who nursed all the Brontes, and saw them all die. She possessed many relics of the famous sisters which had been given her by Mr Bronte. Among them was the pencil sketch of Anne Bronte by Charlotte Bronte, which, however imperfect in drawing, is described by at least two who knew her well as an unmistakable likeness…. I purchased it on Martha Brown’s death from one of her sisters…. I deeply regret that I cannot add a portrait of the greatest genius among the sisters, Emily Bronte. Martha Brown possessed a very clearly and boldly drawn pencil sketch of Emily by Charlotte, which I in vain endeavoured to purchase. After her death, what she left was divided among four sisters, with all of whom I communicated without succeeding even in tracing the picture. …”
William Robertson Nicoll, 1891
Clearly and boldly drawn pencil sketch of the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ of Emily Bronte by sister, Charlotte. Dated 1844 – in the folds of the drapery.
In 1894, a reproduction of the ‘bonnet’ portrait of Emily Brontë appeared in the ‘Woman at Home’ – captioned “EMILY BRONTE – From a painting by Charlotte Bronte, hitherto unpublished.”
In 1896 – the reproduction appeared again in ‘The Bookman’ – only this time captioned as “Emily Brontë, from a portrait drawn by Charlotte”.
William Robertson Nicoll was the Editor of both the ‘Woman at Home’ and ‘The Bookman’ at the times of publication.
The Drawing: resting on the ‘Woman at Home’ 1894 volume 2.
“Her hair, which was naturally as beautiful as Charlotte’s, was in the same unbecoming tight curl and frizz…” Ellen Nussey. Detail from the drawing highlighting a monochrome wash of either ink or watercolour? a known practice of Charlotte’s.
Read more about the drawing here –
The photogravure reproduction featured in the ‘Woman at Home’ – entitled, “EMILY BRONTE – From a painting by Charlotte Bronte, hitherto unpublished.” Reproduced by ‘Andre and Sleigh’
Detail from ‘The Painting’ – “The handling of paint for the skin shows Charlotte’s painstaking technique of using tiny daubs of grey paint as in stippling…” gleaned from ‘The Art of the Brontës’ by Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars – page 212.
The PAINTING – complete with a minuscule date for 1837 in the folds of the cloak.
Let there be light! The MINIATURE version next to a commemorative ‘Sir Isaac Newton’ fifty pence piece – an otherwise ordinary fifty pence piece – for size comparison. The miniature ‘bonnet’ portrait is teeny-weeny – the sitter measures just 50 x 52 mm.
Before becoming a novelist – Charlotte’s ambition was to be a professional miniaturist. I believe this tiny painting is the original version of the ‘bonnet’ portrait of Emily Brontë – painted from life.
The end of the rainbow. Charlotte was seemingly fond of using cloud-shapes as backgrounds – as in her painting ‘Lycidas’ to name one. In this instance, I think the singular leaden-grey cloud that Emily sits on – serves to encapsulate the openness and bleakness of Haworth Moor – that Charlotte’s sister so craved and loved…the Elements and Emily are Indivisible.
‘Emily’ is wrapped in a thick cloak – again suggesting the sitter’s love of the great outdoors. Whenever possible Charlotte avoided painting hands – so the cloak probably served two purposes!
“Where possible Charlotte avoided drawing hands and never seems to have copied the usual exercises in hands and feet from contemporary drawing manuals, as she did in the case of eyes, mouths, ears etc.” from ‘The Art Of The Brontës’ (page 246).
It’s important to read ‘The ‘Lost’ Portrait of Emily Brontë: The Art of Cloud-Shaped Thinking.’ —— in order to realise the significance of the cloud and the ‘forget-me-not’ blue headscarf – in Charlotte’s miniature of her sister, Emily.
The ‘Lost’ Portrait of Emily Bronte: The Art of Cloud-Shaped Thinking.
The Quest for Truth and Light continues…
Updated: Monday, 14th April 2020.
Bonnets off to ‘The Pamela Hat’!
Please read my new post (link below)- posted Easter Day 2020, that’s about the type of hat featured in the ‘Bonnet Portrait’; it is a ‘Pamela Hat’ or ‘Pamela Bonnet’ —— fashionable from the late 18th century through to the middle of the 19th century. This new post also throws light on a portrait titled ‘Lady Louisa Dysart’ that no doubt served as the inspiration for Charlotte’s first version of the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ of her sister, Emily. The miniature version, circa 1830 —— painted when Charlotte would have been about fourteen years old and Emily twelve.
About the ‘Leghorn Hat’…
Timeless fashion. A Leghorn Hat of the very finest quality as worn by Lady Louisa Dysart, no doubt the ‘model’ for Charlotte’s first portrait of her sister Emily – the miniature version.
Traditional Italian ‘Leghorn’ – woven from the finest, dried, bleached straw, that’s as light as a feather.
There is a fascinating source of information below – regarding the wearing of bonnets in the 1800s – and particularly the straw bonnet type worn by Emily in the Drawing, The Painting and The Miniature – especially read section titled ‘1830s Bonnets’ – “The straw bonnets may be Leghorn bonnets…”
What synergy! I have just completed two bonnets in miniature no less, about the size of your 50p. I’m still cogitating on my Bronte girls so this is perfectly inspiring. I hope to finish my other dolls tomorrow and will pop in with the link.
Tina – I used a link from earlier to find your Instagram page – I don’t have an Instagram account so couldn’t leave a comment but I saw your miniature Bonnet! Wow – it’s such a darling little creation, you are so clever and nimble-fingered. I’ve marveled at your little ‘Bonnet’ film several times – your little Leghorn confection IS perfection. Here’s a link for any other Bonnet fanciers out there! https://www.instagram.com/p/BoVJYqsgZUO/?taken-by=poppys.storytime
Gosh I wasn’t as fast as I wished to be with my link! Dear Melanie but if you have time you can see little Letty- a Regency doll and her bonnet over on my new blog https://teawithjane.com It’s a bit thin at the moment but I will chart my journey to Dollydom there a few times a week (I hope). Now I have to dash off and work out how to activate comments.
One makes time for tea dear Tina! Just signed up for more ‘Tea with Jane’ X