It’s not just Charlotte’s portrait of Emily that’s been lost all these years —— but also Sir William Robertson Nicoll’s description of it; lost in translation that is —— despite that it’s in plain English! 

The National Portrait Gallery’s interpretation of Nicoll’s description would have us all accept that the ‘Lost Portrait’ was found in 1914 – in the form of Branwell’s ‘Profile Portrait’ of ‘Emily’ —— yet nowhere did Nicoll state that the ‘Lost Portrait’ was an oil on canvas by Branwell —— as in the ‘Profile Portrait’ in the National Collection.

Nicoll saw Charlotte’s sketch of Emily Brontë when he visited Martha Brown at home in Haworth – in 1879. 

So how exactly did Sir William Robertson Nicoll transcribe his 1879 Haworth experience? The excerpt below was originally published on the 5th November 1886 —— in an article in ‘The British Weekly’ – a Nonconformist newspaper launched by Nicoll —— and publishers, Matthew Hodder and Thomas Stoughton – in October 1886. 

Not having a hard copy of Nicoll’s newspaper article to hand —— here it is instead —— reiterated word for word in a 1981 edition of ‘Brontë Society Transactions’ —— the Society’s own scholarly journal dedicated to Brontë family research.

Sir William Robertson Nicoll —— was himself an early President of the Brontë Society —— which was formed in 1893. “It is proposed to establish a Bronte Society… The chief desideratum is the excellent pencil sketch of Emily Brontë, drawn by Charlotte, which was in the possession of Martha Brown, the old servant of the family, and is now lost. “I saw it thirteen years ago, and vainly endeavoured to purchase it. I have vainly endeavoured to trace it since.” Sir William Robertson Nicoll, 1893

Again, Nicoll shone a light on the medium and the artist responsible; it was a pencil sketch by Charlotte —— quite probably this very sketch on J. Whatman watermarked paper, Charlotte’s favourite make of drawing paper.

It’s an indisputable fact that Branwell’s portrait of ‘Emily’ is unconditionally loved by Brontë fans the World over —— even though there is a strong probability that it’s actually a portrait of Anne Brontë.

AND AS INDISPUTABLE —— IT IS NOT A PENCIL SKETCH or A PORTRAIT BY CHARLOTTE!

From ‘The Life and Eager Death of Emily Brontë’ – a biography by Virginia Moore – published 1936… 

Apart from the obvious pull of the front cover —— I had another reason for wanting to acquire a copy of this now hard to find biography; one page specifically! Beneath a heading ‘Note On The Portrait Of Emily Brontë’ —— Virginia Moore surmises about the whereabouts of the ‘Lost Portrait’ as seen by Nicoll —— “…doubtless it would have come to light by now…” she concluded in 1936!

Maybe if she hadn’t been quite so blind to all but Branwell’s profile portrait of ‘Emily’ – she might have actually noticed that a pencil portrait of Emily by Charlotte came up for auction three years earlier at Sotheby’s in 1933! That said —— if the pencil sketch in Lot 115 was the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ drawing (which I deduce are One and the Same) it would explain why neither the National Portrait Gallery —— The Brontë Society —— or Virginia Moore et al —— bid for it. A portrait with a semblance to the ‘Bonnet’ photogravure would have put-off serious collectors of Brontëana.

When journalist and literary critic, Clement Shorter —— took it upon himself to dismiss the ‘Bonnet’ photogravure —— the die was unfortunately and unfairly cast. From 1900 to the present day —— Shorter’s completely baseless opinion of the ‘Bonnet’ photogravure in the ‘Woman at Home’ has held sway; even three recently found ‘Bonnet’ originals —— that are so obviously created before the ‘Bonnet’ photogravure was published and therefore are not copies —— are powerless in the face of what can only be described as entrenched ‘Bonnetism’! 

‘Bonnetism’ as in perish the thought that Emily Brontë ever wore such a thing as a ‘Gypsy-Straw’ and a thick cloak around those famous exposed shoulders of ‘hers’…Strikes me from what I’ve read and understood about Emily —— is that she comes across as a practical hat and cloak type person rather than a dressy type that would have been comfortable to bare her shoulders for her brother to immortalise on canvas; think about it!

On the subject of Emily’s headgear, Charlotte Brontë made reference to ‘Pamela – Or Virtue Rewarded’ by Samuel Richardson in chapter one of ‘Jane Eyre’. The ‘Pamela Hat’ or Gypsy-Straw’ takes its name from Richardson’s heroine ‘Pamela’… 

Please be sure to CLICK ON THE LINK below to read about the significance of Shirley Keeldar’s ‘Gypsy-Straw’ in Charlotte Brontë’s novel ‘Shirley’ —— 

http://somethingaboutdartmoor.com/2020/05/22/charlotte-bronte-novelist-portraitist-poet-weaver/

The fact that the pencil sketch was sold in “a small parcel” that included “a photogravure of the same” suggests that it was the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ —— because to my knowledge there is no other photogravure of a portrait of Emily with an attribution to Charlotte —— except that is for the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ in the ‘Woman at Home’…

And so it’s easy to see how the pencil sketch of Emily by Charlotte slipped into obscurity again to a buyer called ‘Halliday’. Alas, Sir William Robertson Nicoll died ten years too early to buy it or identify it as the true ‘Lost Portrait’; he died in 1923 —— aged 72.   

Referencing page 369 of ‘The Life and Eager Death of Emily Brontë’ once more —— Virginia Moore euligises that the ‘Profile Portrait’ of ‘Emily’ by Branwell in the National Collection “deserves to be Emily” —— as in preference to Anne… 

In Virginia Moore’s book it’s plain to read how Nicoll’s eye-witness account of the ‘Lost Portrait’ of Emily by Charlotte was overwritten by emotions not cold hard facts; “…a pencil sketch of Emily Brontë by Charlotte, which was very clearly and boldly drawn…” went out the window!

Yet unbelievably Virginia Moore’s feelings towards the ‘Profile Portrait’ in 1936 —— sum up the general feeling towards Branwell’s painting today; it’s idealised as a portrait of ‘Emily’ —— regardless of evidence to the the contrary that identifies its bare-shouldered sitter as Anne Brontë.  

Please don’t get me wrong —— I’m as fond of Branwell’s portrait of ‘Emily’ as the Brontë fan that sensitively preserved the above newspaper cutting – but all the while the National Portrait Gallery maintains the myth that the original by Branwell is the ‘Lost Portrait’ – the real deal is consigned to remain in the shadows.

But there are some things that refuse to be sidelined —— especially when they’ve been systematically wronged by those that only think they are ‘the powers that be’!

The ‘Bonnet Portrait’ photogravure has been reproduced in print (and published online) multiple times since it first appeared way back in 1894 in the ‘Woman at Home’ magazine —— as shown above. The chief Editor of the ‘Woman at Home’ and the ‘The British Weekly’ was One and the Same, Sir William Robertson Nicoll!

Here are a some examples of the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ in print – a portrait that refuses to be cast out for the good reasons I’ve explained…

The next example is paradoxical and ever so slightly absurd! Having thrice written without success to the BBC’s ‘Fake or Fortune?’ programme for help to establish the authenticity of the ‘Bonnet’ drawing —— yet the corporation happily features the ‘Bonnet Portrait’ photogravure on the BBC Bitesize website! I’m not complaining though; Vive la Chapeau!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z24pycw/revision/6

“In the end of July, 1879, I paid a visit to Haworth and stayed a night at the Black ‘Bull Inn, too closely associated with the memory of Patrick Branwell Brontë…On the second day I had an interesting. interview with Martha Brown, the faithful servant who nursed all the Brontës and saw them all die. She lived for the most part in Ireland, but had a room in Haworth and paid occasional visits to her relatives there. She seemed for her station an intelligent and refined person, and was very ready to converse about the Brontës, for whom she had a warm love…She had all the Brontës’ works and a good many relics which Mr. Brontë had left her, but of which she had sold some. One of the most interesting was one of the microscopical manuscript magazines in 32 mo. grey paper. She had once a copy of the Poems of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, with an inscription by Emily Brontë, but had sold it for £5 and a new edition. There were also a good many drawings, of which Charlotte’s were much the most careful. There was only one rough sketch by Emily Brontë and Patrick’s drawings were unfinished. But the most precious of the whole, one of surpassing interest, was a pencil sketch of Emily Brontë by Charlotte, which was very clearly and boldly drawn, and which Martha pronounced an excellent likeness. I endeavoured in vain to purchase it…

“On Martha Brown’s death, which occurred some time after, I endeavoured to procure some of her relics, and especially the drawing of Emily Brontë. What she left was divided among four sisters, with all of whom I communicated, but was unable to procure or even to trace this. I purchased, however, a pencil sketch of Anne Brontë by Oharlotte. It bears the inscription ‘By my daughter Charlotte. P. Brontë, Minister.’ and is identified as an excellent likeness of Anne Brontë by two of Martha Brown’s sisters…”

Sir William Robertson Nicoll.

“Shirley is indeed the exterior Emily…” Agnes Mary Frances Robinson —— ‘Emily Brontë Eminent Women Series’ 1883. 

Charlotte Brontë: Novelist. Portraitist. Poet. Weaver.

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