In three parts, published on the 22nd December 2019 —— the date of this year’s Winter Solstice; Let There Be Light…

Part Ι.

The fact that actress Mia Wasikowska’s olive-green cloak —— as worn in the title role of the film version of ‘Jane Eyre’ has turned a deep shade of Red – is testament to the influence that fairy-tales played in Charlotte’s original narrative; ‘Cinderella’, ‘Blue Beard’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are identifiable elements through-out Jane’s difficult progress —— and final fairy-tale wedding to her Prince Charming, ‘Mr. Rochester’. There is one short passage in ‘Jane Eyre’ though —— that doesn’t so much borrow from ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ —— it’s been lifted straight off the page…

The Other painting is a much smaller —— much older painting on ‘J Whatman’ watermarked paper, dated 1843 – that’s been metaphorically banished by ‘the powers that be’ to remain in the cupboard under the stairs —— only it possesses an independent will of its ‘own’ and has other ideas. It imparts its secrets to me little by little, all in its own good time. I believe in it – or how else could I explain the rest of all this…

‘Rekindling The ‘Lost’ Art of Charlotte Brontë: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire.’ —— a blog-post consisting of imagery woven together with words —— of books, places and things that have helped to uncover the true identity behind a thought-provoking image of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ – painted on J Whatman watermarked paper. Even for a perceptionist like myself, it’s taken eleven years for the artist’s minuscule signature, that measures no more than a centimetre in length —— to miraculously come to the surface! Tiny as the signature ‘C Brontë’ is —— there can be no denying that it’s there; state of the art science would prove it. The clue to the whereabouts of Charlotte’s minuscule signature is in the title…

My father’s version of the fairy-tale differed from the ‘Ladybird’ book version I was familiar with at school, in that the wolf’s act was final —— there was never any ‘happy ever after’ for the poor little girl in the red cap and cloak. In my imagination, she was forever trapped in the dark – alive still —— but unable to get out. 

That there were several large ‘savage’ pigs roaming free at the bottom of the steep hill into the wooded valley – only enhanced the real —— and imagined threat of ambush – that at any second a large, slavering, yellow-toothed beast —— half pig, half wolf – would gobble me up whole for afters! Despite my Father’s best parental efforts to warn me about the possible perils of straying from the path, I grew up to be the type of headstrong individual that often wanders off the beaten track – especially when I know I’m on the scent of a great ‘Red Shed’ or something Other…Wind the clock on nearly half-a-century to 2008 —— and you’ll appreciate my initial reaction to a depiction of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ – that I’d not seen before in any fairy-tale books. In an instant, the diminutive figure behind glass revivified the nervous excitement of those far-off walks to fetch a Sunday newspaper. It was love at first sight —— ever the best incentive for purchasing an artwork big or small – ‘Little Red Riding hood’ measures 16 cms by 13.5 cms.

Figuratively speaking, it felt like a resurrection of the girl who’d been trapped in the dark for many a long year —— “Little Red Riding Hood liveth!” I rejoiced, as I took hold of the painting; although in hindsight I realise it was the other way round —— the painting took hold of me!

Little Red Riding Hood’s epiphany came five years later on – whilst I was watching a late-night programme on the television called, ‘Perspectives: The Brilliant Brontë Sister’s’ – brilliantly presented by actress, Sheila Hancock. 

Suddenly, I had intuited a similarity between the artworks on show in the Parsonage on the telly, and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ encased behind glass downstairs; I’d simply describe the moment of realisation as a ghost walking over my grave. Inspired by my late-night televisual, telepathic experience I determined to free the painting from its small, rather plain frame the very next morning —— the frame was no great loss as it was ill-fitting and although suitably old probably not original. With due care, I removed the back from the frame – and lifted ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ from her slumber. As I did so, I huffed and I puffed —— and blew away the sleeping dust of a ‘hundred years’ in a go! I then carried the painting over to the light and held it up at the window for the first time ever —— lo and behold, the daylight revealed a watermark ‘Whatman 1843’ – a make of paper that I later learned Charlotte favoured. The date of the watermark falls well within Charlotte’s lifetime – 21 April 1816 to 31 March 1855. 

I was gripped.

The airing of ‘The Brilliant Brontë Sisters’ on the 31st March, 2013 – marked the year ‘The Brontës’ first appeared on my radar so to speak —— ‘coincidentally’ it was also the 158th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s passing from this world to the next. To this day, I swear there is an entity attached to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ – and the other ‘lost’ artworks I’ve researched —— several entities in fact, that are apparently just as determined as I am! 

Charlotte’s narrative imagery of ‘Mr. Brocklehurst’ in ‘Jane Eyre’ – published in 1847 – clearly alludes to the big bad wolf in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’; as does ‘Lucy Snowe’s’ visit to ‘Madame Walravens’ in Charlotte’s last novel, ‘Villette’ – published in 1853.

Given the original year of publication of both novels 1847 and 1853 respectively – coupled with the painting’s watermark for 1843, it doesn’t take much of a stretch of one’s imagination – to picture Charlotte Brontë with her head immersed in a volume of Perrault’s or Grimms’ fairy-tales – especially as Charlotte’s facial description of Mr. Brocklehurst is lifted straight from the pages of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’: “What a face he had … what a great nose! And what a mouth! And what large prominent teeth.” 

Mr. Brocklehurst was the authoritarian proprietor of ‘Lowood’ – who mistreated the poor and orphaned girls in his ‘care’.

Perrault’s version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is the version that my father retold with relish – as in the wolf’s act was final – but I always did half-doubt ‘his’ version of events!

Speaking of books that Charlotte may have owned——or had access to, I wonder, did the folks at the Parsonage own a copy of ‘The New Year’s Gift – Juvenile Souvenir 1832’? My timeworn copy came over from an Antiquarian in Lübeck in Germany —— a fairy-tale city (architecturally speaking) if every there was one!

It’s well documented in ‘The art of the Brontës’ – that Charlotte Brontë copied many of the drawings and paintings now in the Brontë Parsonage Museum collection – from Annuals and Periodicals of the time. Mrs Gaskell – described Charlotte’s technique in ‘Mrs Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë’…

    “When she was sixteen or seventeen, she wanted much to draw; and she copied nimini-pimini copper-plate engravings out of annuals (‘stippling’ don’t the artists call it?), every little point put in, till at the end of six months she had produced an exquisitely faithful copy of the engraving. She wanted to learn to express her ideas by drawing.”

‘The New Year’s Gift – Juvenile Souvenir 1832’ – featured a nimini-pimini copper-plate engraving of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ as its frontispiece – after Sir Thomas Lawrence’s original painting of Emily Anderson…

Again, in Lawrence one finds a link —— a vibration to the Brontës. Aspiring portrait painter, Branwell Brontë – was under the tutelage of William Robinson who himself was a pupil of the great Sir Thomas Lawrence! I think would-be miniaturist, Charlotte – would have been hugely impressed by T.S Engleheart’s special engraving of Lawrence’s ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ – especially as Charlotte held Lawrence’s portraiture in high esteem. Charlotte would have been coming up sixteen years of age in April, 1832 – an age when an image of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ may well have left a lasting impression.  

Sir Thomas Lawrence’s painting of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is in fact a portrait of Emily Anderson – who like Charlotte, Emily and Anne – was a clergyman’s daughter also. Again, another plausible reason why Charlotte may have been drawn to the frontispiece engraving in ‘The New Year’s Gift – Juvenile Souvenir 1832’. I think Charlotte would have perceived an element of her indomitable self, stepping out from between the green, leather-bound boards of the pocket-sized Annual.

If it wasn’t for the fact, that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ has violet-blue eyes more akin to Charlotte’s sister, Anne Brontë – I’d be one-hundred percent certain —— instead of ninety-nine-point-nine percent, that the subject IS in disguise; the painting is a figurative selfie! I’d conjecture too that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ embodies something of Charlotte Brontë’s literary, semi-autobiographical protagonist ‘Lucy Snowe’ ——— and what’s in a name? Charlotte Brontë originally intended to call her fictional alter ego, ‘Lucy Frost’.

The stouthearted figure on ‘J Whatman’ watermarked paper is child-sized in stature only; Charlotte Brontë, Lucy Snowe —— ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ —— are one and the same I’d say. Because Charlotte was presumably a thirty-eight year old virgin when she accepted Arthur Bell Nicholl’s marriage proposal —— I interpret Charlotte’s fairy-tale self-portrayal as representing a rite of passage; the idea of consummating her marriage with her rather whiskery suitor evidently gave the bride-to-be pause for thought that took form in creative self-expression! The pigments used in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ are a good match with the watercolour cakes inside Charlotte’s ‘George Blackman’ paintbox —— and those seen in authenticated artworks in the Parsonage Museum including a miniature portrait of her sister, Anne. The father-of-the bride wished that his only remaining daughter had postponed marriage until after her child-bearing years had passed —— such was his fear of losing her. 

Charlotte’s wont to ‘meticulously’ copy engravings means that her fairy-tale alter ego is set within a recognisable landscape that follows Engleheart’s exacting lines. However, an obvious deviation is the change of season that’s not evident in Sir Thomas Lawrence’s original brushwork either; no sooner has ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ left home and crossed over the bridge ——’Jack Frost’ has come nipping at her heels! ‘On the surface’ —— the tall leafy ‘green’ tree on the left of the painting appears to be at odds with ‘the white stuff’ visible underfoot, yet when one looks at it more closely – one notices that ‘Jack Frost’ aka Charlotte Brontë —— has been there with a paintbrush too. A hint perhaps at the Natural World reflecting the thin line between Life —— and Death.

The Grimms’ version of the fairy-tale ends miraculously and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ lives happily ever after – but I think Perrault’s earlier —— red in tooth and claw version, would have hit home; it’s realism and finality would have resonated with Charlotte’s acute awareness of mortality —— and the brevity of life. Charlotte’s version of ‘Little Red Ridng Hood’ is an open-ended metaphor that gives its reader a clue as to how the person behind the face was thinking ahead of herself.  The central message of the painting is one of optimism —— there is something undeniably affirming about ‘Little Red Riding Hood’s’ tentative steps towards the ‘unknown’. When the painting was sat on my sideboard —— long before I associated it with Charlotte’s hand —— the following line from the 23rd Psalm always sprang to mind “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” —— in fact, suddenly I’d be back in the valley again holding my father’s hand —— on my way to fetch a Sunday newspaper…

For the portraitist’s real self, there was no ambiguity come the end – other than the cause of her early death; Charlotte died on the 31st of March 1855, three weeks before her 39th birthday and after only nine months of marriage. Charlotte followed the eternal footsteps of her Mother and all five siblings —— Maria, Elizabeth, Branwell, Emily and Anne – in that order —— to an early grave. Charlotte’s death certificate states that she died from tuberculosis – although the unofficial cause of her death is cited as an extreme form of morning sickness —— Charlotte was seemingly with child. 

It’s a considered guess —— based on the watermark for 1843 – that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was created post-Brussels – between the years leading up to the publication of ‘Jane Eyre’ in 1847, and the publication of ‘Villette’ in 1853. During that period of approximately ten years, Branwell, Emily and Anne all succumbed to the ravages of Tuberculosis and died in quick succession of one another. Following Anne’s death in May 1849, Charlotte was left utterly bereft and desolate; sister-less and brother-less save for the company of her aging father. 

Charlotte’s father, the Rev’d. Patrick Brontë was vehemently opposed to his only remaining daughter marrying below herself —— and only agreed to relinquish Charlotte in 1854; though he did not attend the wedding to give Charlotte away. No doubt Rev’d Brontë was also concerned that Charlotte’s filial duty would be compromised by another man in her life as well as in’t Parsonage! By marrying Arthur Bell Nicholls – assistant curate at Haworth —— Charlotte broke an earlier pact she had made with old school friends, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor, never to marry. Following Charlotte’s engagement —— correspondence between Ellen and Charlotte fell silent – however, in the spirit of true friendship, Ellen soon forgave Charlotte and even stood in for the father-of-the-bride who had taken to his bed on the day of the wedding. Charlotte was said to look like a snowdrop in her wedding dress. 

Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor remained spinsters to the end – they lived to eighty and seventy-six respectively – but Charlotte’s new found happiness was destined not to bide. One wonders whether Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls as in ‘do or die’ – then died because she got married and fell pregnant; Life was not fair or kind to Charlotte Brontë. At three weeks off her 39th birthday, Charlotte would have been considered an ‘old maid’ for the purposes of child bearing.  When one considers the high maternal mortality rates at that time with Charlotte’s ‘doll-sized’ clothes on display in the Parsonage Museum as I have done – it comes as no surprise that Charlotte envisioned an allegory of herself donning the iconic blood-red cap and gown… 

The true identity of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is summed up by four minuscule uppercase letters that shout-out, ‘SELF’!! Charlotte was rather fond of using exclamation marks to emphasize a point —— one only need refer to her miniature books for evidence!!!! 

Ice typically symbolises coldness in the absence of love —— such was the front between Charlotte and Monsieur Héger – the married schoolmaster she fell madly in love with during her time studying in Brussels——1842–43 – it was a cerebral love affair that Charlotte alone was passionate about. Charlotte expounds the devastating effects of one-sided love in this passage from ‘Jane Eyre’: “A Christmas frost had come at mid-summer: a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hay-field and corn-field lay a frozen shroud…and the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and fragrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway. My hopes were all dead…” Charlotte’s description of Jane’s mental health after her engagement to Mr Rochester is cried-off because he was already married.  

Quite a few of Charlotte Brontë’s meticulous copies are not quite as “faithful” as Mrs. Gaskell would have us believe —— fact. When one compares the painting of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ against the frontispiece by T.S. Engleheart, one notices flourishes that fit with Charlotte’s wont to make the subject her own; no short capelet for Charlotte’s ‘Little Red Riding Hood’!!! 

The engraver’s sharp lines lack the sensitivity and imagination of the copyist’s brush and pencil; this ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is no clinical carbon copy after Engleheart’s engraving – or Lawrence’s original for that matter —— instead it’s the work of a gifted story-teller in their own right.  

An edition of ‘The Tatler’ – ‘A Daily Paper of Literature, Fine Arts, & Public Amusements’ – Tuesday, November 22nd 1831, wrote of Engleheart’s newly published engraving…

“‘Little Red Riding Hood’.——Painted by Sir Thos. Lawrence, P. R. A. Engraved by T. S. Engleheart.——No Little Red riding-hood is here. All warrant for the name is a red hood and a white apron. The artificial hair, the artificial mien, and unfeeling, impudent affected face, belong to no little peasant. It is a young sprig of the selfish aristocracy. The engraving is very hard.”  A rather harsh criticism but fair point in light of Charlotte’s sensitivities to the same subject.

Despite ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ having no provenance at all – or a readily visible artist’s signature, I felt compelled to contact the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth about my late-night televisual, telepathic experience! So I contacted Ann Dinsdale, the museum’s Principle Curator.

Following consultation with Jane Sellars – joint author of ‘The art of the Brontës’ – Ann Dinsdale ‘concluded’ that they couldn’t say that ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was an artwork by Charlotte Brontë – but as telling —— they couldn’t say that it wasn’t!  

The painting’s lack of provenance and an artist’s signature – drew the matter to an inconclusive ‘end’ in 2013 – and the painting returned to a semi-dormant state. 

However, from the written responses that I received at that time – it can be reasonably taken that stylistically the painting is correct for a Charlotte Brontë attribution. 

   “Jane feels that without any provenance it would be very difficult to establish your painting as the work of Charlotte Bronte. The fact that art training for young women of that period consisted of copying such prints adds to the difficulty. It’s certainly a lovely painting and she didn’t dismiss it as being Charlotte’s work. I think you will have to enjoy your painting without knowing for sure! With many thanks for contacting us and I’m sorry we weren’t able to say for sure. I hope it will be OK for us to keep details of your painting in our confidential records in case any further information should come to light.”

(Excerpt – Monday, 3rd June 2013)

Winding the clock forward to 2019 – I recently purchased a copy of ‘The Secret of Charlotte Brontë’ by Frederika Macdonald —— complete with a library stamp for ‘The Red House Museum’ in Gomersal, West Yorkshire’. Rather extraordinarily —— the delivery of Frederika’s book to my door – magically rekindled my interest in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Suddenly, I was impelled to remove the painting from the dark where it had languished for six whole years – apart from a couple brief outings ‘home’ – in May 2017 – and in April this year. Sadly, both trips up North came too late for a visit to the ‘The Red House Museum’ in Gomersal – as Kirklees Council closed it down due to cuts – but lucky for me a little bit of ‘The Red House’ came down to Devon…

‘The Red House’ is featured in the very programme that kick-started my interest in the Brontës —— and more specifically, the ‘lost’ art of Charlotte Brontë —— it feels like I’ve almost come full circle!

Mary Taylor of ‘The Red House’ in Gomersal, Charlotte Brontë —— and Ellen Nussey – all attended ‘Roe Head’ school at the same time – where together they became firm, lifelong friends. Charlotte’s second published novel ‘Shirley’ – immortalised Mary Taylor’s family as ”The Yorkes’ and the house at Gomersal as ‘Briarmains’. I haven’t actually got round to reading ‘Shirley’ yet – but the Internet is a wonderful fount of knowledge! In light of all that I’ve written here about Charlotte’s ‘lost’ art – you will better understand why I view receipt of Frederika’s book as a Gift; it feels like Mary Taylor herself has played a hand in posting it through my door! 

Sandwiched between pages 118 and 119 – there is a drawing by Charlotte Brontë of ‘Ashburnham Church’ dated ‘August 45’ – that she sent to Monsieur Héger – after she returned from Brussels to Haworth. Although the drawing failed to garner a response from the remote Monsieur Héger —— 174 years later, the same can’t be said here! Suddenly, the position of Charlotte’s signature on her drawing of ‘Ashburnham Church’ – gave me the clue to locating Charlotte’s minuscule signature on ‘Little Red Riding Hood’; both are more or less in the same position, at an angle on the right-hand side——both ‘C Brontë’. It’s evident from studying ‘The art of the Brontës’ that Charlotte’s signature varies in style and length quite a lot but what must surely single out the signature on ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ as genuine – is how extraordinarily small it is – 1 cm in length ONLY! It’s true —— there really is no smoke without a fire’.

The timely appearance of Frederika’s book through my door via ‘The Red House’ in Gomersal – is nothing short of a deliverance from the ‘powers that be’ that have officially denied ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ twice. Their second denial on the 15th April 2019 was largely based on lack of provenance but also on stylistic grounds…“The works lack provenance, which is an important factor in all cases, but our decision was also based on stylistic grounds…”  I totally accept that the painting has no provenance whatsoever – but to dismiss it on “stylistic grounds” sticks in the craw – and contradicts what was earlier ‘concluded’ about the painting in 2013. Grrrrr, what do ‘the powers that be’ actually know about this painting – when they can’t be asked to look at it properly when i gave them the opportunity?!!!! I KNOW that the drawings and paintings that I have researched ARE what I say they ARE without a shadow of doubt – hence I’m ‘quietly’ optimistic that Charlotte’s version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ —— nay vision of ‘herself’ – will one day return home again for the third and final time——third time lucky and all that! The Brontës believed in ghosts and the supernatural —— and so do I…And so I’m remembering again that otherworldly tap on the shoulder —— whilst watching ‘The Brilliant Brontë Sisters’ – on Easter Sunday, 31st. March 2013 – coincidentally, the 158th anniversary of Charlotte’s death. In hindsight, it felt like a scene out of Emily’s novel —— only in 2013, I knew very little about the Brontës and I certainly hadn’t read ‘Wuthering Heights’! I only switched the programme on because my mother phoned me that evening and encouraged me to tune in; she knew how much I love James Herriot’s ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ – and so thought I’d enjoy a programme about the Brontës of Haworth – the vibration that links the two being Yorkshire! Despite the lack of official interest in the handful of artworks I’ve researched I’m not complaining because they have taken me to the heart of ‘Herriot Country’ —— and my mother was dead right, I have enjoyed learning about the Brontës – although not through reading their novels but through discovering their Art…Who knows, if it wasn’t for my Mother’s advice to tune in – I might have remained in the dark about the mysterious little painting that sat ‘silently’ on my sideboard for five whole years…

    “On Sunday 31 March 2013  I was enthralled by a programme on ITV called ‘Perspectives’ presented by Sheila Hancock – all about the Bronte sisters. Near the beginning of the programme – it showed some artwork by the sisters – and I was suddenly struck by the similarity in style to Red Riding Hood – I have owned this picture for quite a few years. It was just like a ghost had walked over my grave – I watched the programme twice on the ITV repeat channel –  because it was such a wonderful programme – and so beautifully and movingly presented by Sheila Hancock – I was completely enthralled. It is probably my imagining but Red Riding Hood has a likeness to the portraits of Anne Bronte by Charlotte? The strawberry blonde ringlet curls around the forehead and the blue eyes and the slightly arched nose.  Even the blue of the dress is very alike.  Probably all coincidence?”

Six years on I don’t think any of the above can be put down to mere coincidence——there are some stories one simply can’t make-up!

Wouldn’t it be fantastical to sign off the final paragraph of my ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ story in the best Brothers Grimm tradition – with ‘happily ever after’ —— BUT unfortunately that’s for the ‘powers that be’ to determine —— it’s their prerogative apparently – and they cast their long dark shadows over all five artworks – on Monday, 15th April 2019. Undeterred, I shall end in the true spirit of Charles Perrault whose fairy-tales always end with a moral…

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It’s a strange truth that Truth itself has it’s own way of coming to the surface eventually.

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There’s an unresolved problem with the alignment of some of the images and text in this post caused by an update —— but the overall content remains unchanged; my aim was to write down my findings and interpretations and send it all off out into the ether at precisely 4:19 am —— job done.  

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