Mystery of Brontë’s Mohawk moccasins.

Charlotte Brontë’s moccasins, as featured in ‘Defying Expectations: Inside Charlotte Brontë’s Wardrobe’.

Research has shown that they were made in the mid to late 1840s near Montreal, Canada.

Visit ‘Defying Expectations’ throughout the year at the Museum.

thetimes/mystery-of-brontes-mohawk-moccasins 

Sitting in the Brontë Parsonage museum archives are a pair of native American beaded leather moccasins. Donated in 1983 by a Brontë enthusiast, the shoes arrived accompanied by a note claiming that they had once belonged to Charlotte Brontë and curators have been puzzled by this ever since. How could they have made their way into the hands of a plain parson’s daughter from Victorian Yorkshire?

Strange article about the new Charlotte Bronte exhibition, her dresses.

The article is about this dress 

SR.5.7.Sym.1.42
Title	photographs of dresses worn by Charlotte Bronte
Description	printed page 22 showing two b/w images of a model wearing {103} pink frock and cape worn by Charlotte Bronte and {104} silk dress worn on her wedding tour by Charlotte Bronte [135mm l x 97mm w; fair;] [x 3 copies. (From the catalogue from the Bronte Parsonage) .

This article is surprising me very much: 

theguardian/charlotte-bronte-clothing-exhibition-sensual-side-parsonage-museum

A new side of Charlotte Brontë, showing the author of Jane Eyre’s unexpected penchant for colourful, fashionable, even “sensual” clothing, is revealed in a new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

“My personal favourite is her pink wrapper, which is a really, really strange garment,” said Dr Eleanor Houghton, a historian, writer and illustrator who has co-curated the exhibition. “It was a sort of house coat with a matching cape. It’s hideous, pink, with little flowers on it, very bold, very bright and huge – very voluminous. It’s absolutely the opposite of anything you would ever associate with Charlotte Brontë.”

It’s a sensual garment, it’s something that she would have been seen in in the house, and with Nicholls. So while it’s not exactly a negligee, it’s sort of a Victorian equivalent. It’s an intimate garment,” said Houghton.

• Really? Do we, Charlotte Bronte lovers, believe she could never have worn this?   This cosy, high-necked, covering everything dress, frock?
• Do we believe Charlotte Bronte was some kind of a prude? The author of Jane Eyre?

I asked the opinion of a friend, who studies the Brontes, her reaction:

"The expert  quoted in the article seem to have an idea of Charlotte that she was some sort of austere, Quaker maid! Ha! Yes, CB cultivated that idea, but none should believe it. At heart she was a deeply sensual woman. 

Charlotte LOVED all the extra bows and ruffles!  Look at her wedding dress. She designed one frilly, extravagant, element after another. Charlotte was not plain in her dress once she had funds from her books.  Her forays into fashion were not always sure,  she still regularly called on her friend, Ellen Nussey, for advice, but they were determined. Particularly when she was visiting London, or on an important occasion, such as her marriage.

The article also portrays  this garment as something like a kinky sex outfit, when it's simply a dressing gown and one that covered her up completely!  People wore dressing gowns back then between their night gowns and  their day clothes.  I imagine Charlotte wore this gown at her dressing table  to brush her hair. etc.  

However, the 1927 catalogue calls this outfit a  "frock", that is a dress, with a cape.  So perhaps it was indeed a dress she wore during the day,( most likely in London, too dressy for Haworth! ) and so it is not a even dressing gown. Today our night dress and day clothes often look the same, like lounge wear, so it may be harder for us to tell! 

I would also point out Charlotte would add large, even extravagant, elements when designing her outfits, like the  balloon sleeves on the going away dress and extra padding on the outfit in question, to add bulk to her tiny figure."

INSIDE CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S WARDROBE.

This brand new exhibition,  co-curated with historical consultant Dr Eleanor Houghton, places focus on some of the remarkable garments and accessories worn by Charlotte Brontë. These brightly coloured, fashionable, even exotic items boldly challenge the preconception that Brontë and her famous protagonist Jane Eyre  were, at least in terms of dress, one and the same. The clothes draw attention to both Charlotte’s ordinary and extraordinary lives but also remind us that she was an active participant of the fast-changing mid-nineteenth century.

At the heart of ‘Defying Expectations’ is a striped evening dress, which has never been exhibited before. The dress was proved to be Charlotte’s during an extensive period of research conducted over the last six years by Dr Eleanor Houghton, the first scholar ever to have studied the clothing in the Brontë Society's collection  in detail. 

The exhibition features more than twenty pieces of Charlotte’s clothing and accessories, and offers an intimate insight into both her domestic and literary lives. Bronte Parsonage/whats-on/1169/defying-expectations-inside-charlotte-brontes-wardrobe,

The Fashions Of Anne Brontë And Her Sisters.

Nick Holland is telling on his weblog Anne Bronte

about The Fashions Of Anne Brontë And Her Sisters

Visit the Manuscript of 'Jane Eyre' in New York.

How did Charlotte Brontë go from scribbling in secret to one of England’s (and literature’s) most famous names? Look for the answer in a passage in Jane Eyre, in which her famously plain heroine tells her husband-to-be that she is a “free human with an independent will.” That bold declaration is at the center of a new exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York—one that celebrates the author’s 200th birthday with a look at the forces that turned her into a writer.

Brontë has been at the center of literary legend since her first published novel, Jane Eyre, appeared under a pseudonym in 1847. The book was immediately loved and loathed for emotions that flew in the face of convention and courtesy, and the identity of its author became a much-contested question. But even after Brontë was discovered to be the person behind the pen name Currer Bell, myths about her childhood, her family members and the atmosphere in which she became an author have persisted. Read all the article; smithsonianmag

Black satin slipper worn by Charlotte Bronte

On the Facebook page of Tracy Chevalier
I found this:

Here are Charlotte Bronte's evening pumps, lined with white rabbit fur! Look closely and you can see an imprint of her heel.

On the site of the Bronte Parsonage I found some more information

D35.1

Title	black satin slipper worn by Charlotte Bronte
Description	black sateen upper, cream inner, flat leather sole, square toe, square vamp, 2 thin black ties (once elasticated?), braid down the side where each tie is attached.
Material	sateen, leather
Technique	sewn
Dimensions	whole 225  mm whole 70  mm whole 40  mm

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire

I am proud to pronounce to you a quest blogger Annie Lloyd

Anne lives in the United States. I met her through this blog.

She knows a lot about the Bronte Sisters and is currently writing a book about them

In October she visited Haworth.  Later she will sent me information about this trip.

But first she wanted to tell us about her visit tot the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York  

Currently on exhibit from the at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York is a show of thirty ensembles meant to declare the wearer is in mourning. The clothes are organized chronologically  covering the years from 1815 to 1915. The practice, reached its height in the later Victorian era. It came to an end during WW 1 as there were so many suffering bereavement it was thought unwise to have it continue. So grief became a private matter and we haven't looked back

Today we wear black because we like it. In other times there were strict rules over the matter and it was a sign of social status.

Being a Bronte fan, my greatest interest lay in a group of three from the 1840's. 

The two women here seem to be conversing. Of course I love those bonnets, but the beauty of the silk is breath taking. It's marvelous such a complete outfits were persevered. 

There is also a simpler dress from 1848. It shows its owner was coming out of her deepest grief by the thin buff lines in the material.

However here is a marvelous slide show of the whole exhibit. It also has jewelry and prints on display.

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/death-becomes-her/gallery-views

By the 1840's a number tailors were devoted solely to the trade of mourning clothes and I believe some were rented out like tuxes are rented today. The custom seemed linked to the rise of industry and the middle class. It  was a matter of status if one could afford a mourning ensemble as well as one's every day clothes. Many had their best dress dyed black to acquire the look.

However those wearing the dresses found at the Met did not have to worry about expense, a good number of the ensembles were made for royalty. Not only is the custom of wearing black because of  grief mostly unknown to us, the beauty of these clothes seem surreal as well. It's a pleasure to see such clothes as these. As a friend once said, " It's not that everything was better long ago, but that only the best survives to our day" 

Much like wedding dresses, these ensembles were worn for a single purpose. When that purpose was done, the outfits were put away. This helped to save the material from wear. If a person was lucky, by the time the clothes were needed again, the attire was out of fashion and that saved it even more as new clothes would have to be bought. This is a boon to us because it promotes the survival of such clothing so we may see them today.

In the 1840's morning clothes were worn for brothers and sisters for  six to eight months. Later in the century rules became stricter and more exacting, particularly after Prince Albert's death in 1861 when Queen Victoria  plunged into 40 years of mourning. It seemed an  Olympic sport in later Victorian times.

Sadly for Charlotte, her sibling's deaths came so swiftly and close together, much of her mourning was concurrent. When Charlotte  finally came out of mourning in 1850,  Anne Thackeray Richie  tells us she wore a green dress.

The exhibition runs through February 1, 2015.

Photographs on Pennistone and the Bluebell

hathawaysofhaworth had a photograph taking day yesterday

 and  took several photographs on Pennistone.

 

From this weblog: The past image is of  the gown with a correct shaped collar which I made myself out of vintage Victorian lace as early collars from the 1830s are too expensive for everyday work wear so I thought I would share the shots of the collar these are taken at  the St Ives estate nr Bingley, the bluebells are just starting to come out there so its a nice trio if your staying in Haworth as it’s not far from Haworth.

 

 

The Bluebell

The Bluebell is the sweetest flower
That waves in summer air:
Its blossoms have the mightiest power
To soothe my spirit's care.

Emily Bronte
literature/bronte

A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell.

Anne Bronte
The_Bluebell-by-Anne_Bronte

The Bronte Parsonage museum in Haworth will be celebrating a unique event, a 200th weddding anniversary.

From Hathaways of Haworth:

 Maria Branwell met, fell in love with and married Patrick within a few months and hurriedly sent to Cornwall for her possessions and more of her clothing to be “sent around by sea” as that was the quickest way to transport things from Cornwall to Yorkshire at that time. Her possesions were almost all lost at sea in a storm which would suspect leave a big gap in her trousseau and replacing the lost essentials would make a huge gap in the cash available for buying new silks etc. The news of the shipwreck reached Maria sometime just before or around the 18th of November so she would have some time to make new items but having read her letters I imagine she would be more concerned with preparing for her married life and her new home than in making a trousseau. Though I should like to have created something new for the oocasion.

I was thrilled to be asked to be “Mrs Bronte” though finding a dress at short notice has been a challenge as I have a fairly limited regency wardrobe of day gowns and ball gowns. The ball gowns were made from expensive silks and far to lavishly trimmed but even for a regency wedding the brown day dresses seemed a bit gloomy.Very rarely did anyone except the rich have specially made wedding dresses they usually wore their sunday best. When they were well enough off to have a new dress made it was always one that could be reworn for everyday use later. Brown was in fact a popular colour because of its usefulness but to modern eyes a bit dreary.

The Bronte Parsonage museum in Haworth will be celebrating a unique event, a 200th weddding anniversary. On Dec 29th 2012 it will be the 200 anniversary of the Marriage in Guisley church of Maria Branwell and the Rev Patrick Bronte.The eventual Parents of the Bronte sisters and their brother Branwell.
Heres the museums information on the day of special events http://www.bronte.org.uk/
To mark the occasion the Brontë Parsonage Museum is offering a day of free activities – and a piece of wedding cake! – to all visitors.

• Meet ‘Mrs Brontë’ as she tours the Museum in her wedding dress
• Listen to a short talk about Maria and Patrick’s courtship and wedding at intervals throughout the day
• Handle real period costume items
• Enjoy children’s activities in the foyer
• And partake of a free slice of commemorative wedding cake!

Undressing Miss Earnshaw

A short post to illustrate the use of clothing to help alienate Kathy and Heathcliff in wuthering heights. In contrast to Charlotte who often describes clothing to delineate character or class or act as a contrast to the characters social positions, Emily uses clothing in Wuthering heights as a tool within the story. Read more: hathawaysofhaworth

December fashion in the time of the Bronte Sisters

darvillsrareprints

 

 

DESCRIPTION: This fine and original color lithograph was printed in Paris (France) in 1848. It was printed on very heavy wove paper and the image is exquisitely drawn and hand-colored at the time of the publication. Colours are vivid and fresh.

1848-antique-fashion-lithograph

 

1848 fashion plate shows bonnets and winter-wear.

 

With the narrow, sloping shoulder line of the 1840s, the shawl returned to fashion, where it would remain through the 1860s. It was now generally square and worn folded on the diagonal.
Riding habits consisted of a high-necked, tight-waisted jacket with long snug sleeves, worn over a tall-collared shirt or chemisette, with a long matching petticoat or skirt. Contrasting waistcoats or vests cut like those worn by men were briefly popular. Tall hats or broad-brimmed hats like those worn by men were worn.
With the new narrower sleeves, coats and jackets returned to fashion. These were generally knee-length with a cape-like collar. Ankle-length cloaks with cape-collars to cover slits for the arms were worn in cold or wet weather. Ermine muffs with attached handkerchiefs were worn to keep hands warm and be fashionable.^[3]
The pelerine was a popular name for wide, capelike collars that extended over the shoulders and covered the upper chest. Sometimes they had layers of tiered fabric, long front panels hanging down from center front, or were also belted at the natural waistline.
The mantlet was a general name for any small cape worn as outerwear.

wiki/1840s_in_fashion
Mantelets

Dress of Charlotte Bronte
This dress is not made for winter time
This dress is the dress Charlotte used during her honeymoon in august

pinterest.historic-fashion-1830-1865

 

The brown gown

I am not sure which sister this gown belonged to. I think it’s attributed to Charlotte but most gowns are, I had thought before I viewed it that it belonged to Emily as it’s quite narrow skirted and Emily is known to have worn narrow skirted gowns  but it seems a bit too small on the bodice to have been Emilys, its just  possible its Charlotte’s as she did wear brown but it just seems so unlike all the other gowns known to be Charlotte’s or described by those who knew her that I cant quite bring myself to belive it hers. I cant help but feel it might have belonged to  another of the sisters perhaps Anne, she was a similar build to Charlotte  and not that much taller. Hathaways of Haworth

Charlottes Brontes corset

I wanted to examine the corset because it is a well documented Bronte artifact and known to have definitely belonged to Charlotte so the measurements of the corset will be Charlotte’s. It will  therefore help not just to work out her build but also to clarify which gowns in the Parsonage collection are Charlotte’s and which can be reliably used to work out Charlotte’s fashion tastes. This will clarify which views in  the letters  she writes are in fact accurate reflections of Charlottes own views and what comments in the novels often used to illustrate her character are infact hers as this is usually assumed to be the case. However my closer examination of the corset has raised much wider issues concerning Charlottes mind-set, health and overall well being.
It is quite long early Victorian style with a number of quite sturdy bones, which may be whalebone or possibly steel and whalebone mix as one protruding bone looked like steel. I didnt want to be the person who ruined the Bronte corset so I didnt try to see what the give on the corset was but most steel boned modern corsets are decidedly inflexible (though this was lighter than modern ones). It also has a very wide but removable front busk which when worn would severely limit any  bending or leaning forward movements and has rather alarming health implications. 

Read more of this fascinating subject on:
Hathaways of Haworth


 

The pink Wrapper gown

Hathaways of Haworth/Bronte-clothing-the-pink-wrapper-gowndressing-gown/

Free use Bronte resources

From: Hathaways of Haworth/free-use-bronte-resources

I have a great many photos of the area used for  our website, marketing Bronte talks from our calenders and this page also includes copyright free images collected during my research.This page will also include links to original research by myself  and eventualy a link to Mss of my own, and free read online Bronte bioographies, poetry and stories.Its is likely to be updated every few days at present as we are busy sorting our files.

Hathaways of Haworth

Hathaways of Haworth are offering a special free tutorial on how to create the perfect Victorian look for your school or business. Look the part and make your business or school stand out. Go for a simple skirt, cap and cloak look or learn how to make this stunning evening gown, no sewing skills needed other than knowing how to thread a needle and use scissors. Hathaways of Haworth

Jane Eyre costumes return to Haddon Hall

Through PeriodDramas.com, we learn that Haddon Hall (outside Bakewell in Derbyshire), the Thornfield of no less than three different Jane Eyre adaptations (Gainsbourg/Hurt 1996, Wilson/Stephens 2006, Wasikowska/Fassbender 2011), is to have an exhibition of the costumes of said productions. Last year, they displayed costumes from the 2011 production, but now they're getting ones from the previous two as well. Yay!!

If it was just the 2011 costumes, I wouldn't be that tempted to go - been there, seen those - but with the other two adaptations as well ... awwww, I'll totally have to. Just imagine, seeing Rochester's deep green coat ... wow. Also, the 2011 costumes are incredible:  the squeee

Governess gown and mourning gown

 

A few shots of my last years working wardobe and the governess gown and mourning gown which was also a suitable governess outfit 

Abigails ateliersgoverness-gowns

Bonnets, Costume Institute, Metropolitain of Art

 

Bonnets metmuseum.org/collections

The female silhouette of the middle of the 19th century consisted of a fitted corseted bodice and wide full skirts. The conical skirts developed between the 1830s, when the high waist of the Empire silhouette was lowered and the skirts became more bell shaped, to the late 1860s, when the fullness of the skirts were pulled to the back and the bustle developed. The flared skirts of the period gradually increased in size throughout and were supported by a number of methods. Originally support came from multiple layers of petticoats which, due to weight and discomfort, were supplanted by underskirts comprised of graduated hoops made from materials such as baleen, cane and metal. The fashions during this time allowed the textiles to stand out because of the vast surface areas of the skirt and a relatively minimal amount of excess trim.

metmuseum.org/collections

 

Fashionable dress of the 1840s was inspired by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who was crowned in 1838. Due to her modesty and youth she favored styles which were reserved as befitted a young queen. The elongated bodice and wide V-shape over the bust were essential parts of this decade and can be seen in this example. The addition of many textures from the textile pattern, fringe, tassels, and fabric manipulation through pleating, shirring and puffing, give the dress great visual appeal. 

Charlotte Bronte gown.

Its a hybrid gown, I wanted to make a brown gown for my Bronte wardrobe as brown is fairly well represented in the parsonage catalogues of Bronte clothing and accessories. Its sleeves are modelled on the going away gown, the bodice is a hybrid between the shape of the going away gown and the details in the Photograph dress, the gown had a removable collar initially but I removed it and decided to wear it with a little lace trimmed neckline and  lace trimmed velvet ribbon, I wanted to create echos of the Richmond portrait. I also wore the gown with a white lace trimmed collar but decided that it was too much of a style overlap even for out of London fashions.
Read more on the beautiful weblog: http://abigailsateliers.wordpress.com/

What did the Bronte Sisters look like?

National Portrait Gallery

There are two official portraits of the Bronte Sisters.

Both painted by their brother Branwell Brontë (His own image in the picture has been painted out).

 

This is an actual photograph of 'The Gun-Group' portrait - an oil painting produced by Branwell around 1833/34. The photograph is now in extremely poor condition. The subjects are, from left to right: Anne, Charlotte, Branwell and Emily. Shortly after Patrick Brontë's death in 1861, Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls (pictured on right), took the painting back with him to his home town of Banaghar, in southern Ireland. He tore off the section showing Emily and destroyed the remainder believing the likenesses of the other three to be so poor. The original 'Emily' section is now on display in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Mary Taylor discribes Charlotte when she arrived at Roe Head:

I first saw her coming out of a coverd cast,in very old-fashioned clothes, looking very cold and miserable She looked a little, old woman.

Ellen Nussey: She never seemed to me the unattractivelittle person others designated her, but certainly she was at that tme anything but pretty, even her good points were lost. Her naturally beautiful hair of soft sily browb being then dry and frizzy-looking, screwed up in tight little curls. 

Ellen Nussey July 1833, her first stay at the Parsonage:  

Emily was the tallest person in the house, except her father. Her hair, which was naturally as beautiful as Charlotte's, was in the same unbecoming tight curl and frizz, and there was the same want of complexion. She had very beautiful eyes – kind, kindling, liquid eyes; but she did not often look at you; she was too reserved. Their colour might be said to be dark grey, at other times dark blue, they varied so. She talked very little. She and Anne were like twins – inseparable companions, and in the very closest sympathy, which never had any interruption.

 

Anne, dear gentle Anne, was quite different in appearance to the others. She was her Aunt’s favourite. Her hair was a very pretty light brown and in falling curls fell on her neck in graceful curls. She had lovely violet blue eyes, fine pencilled eye-brows, a clear, almost transparent complexion."

 

Juliet Barker: Anne's hair was actually darker then Ellen remebered: a little plait, cut off and cerefully preserved by Patrick on 22-05-1833 suggests that it had deepened to a rich brown with a hint of auburn, though it remained fairer than her sisters.

http://bjtanke.com/BRONTE/pagex.htm

 

Victorian society was of no interest to Emily. Having taken a fancy to the romantic, gigot sleeves of the 1830s- she wore them long after they’d gone out of style. On the other hand, she had no use for false embellishment. While attending Madame Heger’s school in Brussels, she was teased by the fashionable girls for not wearing a corset. Fellow pupil, Laetitia Wheelwright, recollected that Emily always answered their jokes with, “I wish to be as God made me.”

 Charlotte Bronte made these portraits of Anne:

 

George Smith: Charlotte’s friend and publisher:

 

'I must confess that my first impression of Charlotte Brontë’s personal appearance was that it was interesting rather than attractive. She was very small, and had a quaint old-fashioned look. Her head seemed too large for her body. She had fine eyes, but her face was marred by the shape of the mouth and by the complexion. There was but little feminine charm about her; and of this fact she herself was uneasily and perpetually conscious. It may seem strange that the possession of genius did not lift her above the weakness of an excessive anxiety about her personal appearance. But I believe that she would have given all her genius and her fame to have been beautiful. Perhaps few women ever existed more anxious to be pretty than she, or more angrily conscious of the circumstance that she was not pretty.'

 

On the website of the National Portrait Gallery

I found these portraits: 

 

Charlotte Brontë (Mrs A.B. Nicholls)

by George Richmond
chalk, 1850
23 5/8 in. x 18 3/4 in. (600 mm x 476 mm)
Bequeathed by the sitter's husband, Rev A.B. Nicholls, 1906

Artist
George Richmond (1809-1896), Portrait painter and draughtsman; son of Thomas Richmond. Artist associated with 320 portraits, Sitter in 13 portraits.
Brontë's publisher, George Smith, commissioned this portrait of the novelist from Richmond as a gift for her father, who saw in it 'strong indications of the genius of the author'. Elizabeth Gaskell recalled seeing the portrait hung in the parlour of the Haworth parsonage, and a copy of it appeared in her biography.

Juliet Barker: Richmond captered the beauty of her large hazel eyes and played the size of her prominent nose and mouth.
 ---------------------------------------

It was during this visit in the summer of 1850 that the Smiths persuaded Charlotte Bronte to sit to George Richmond for a portrait, and she agreed, as the drawing was to be framed and presented to her father, and Ellen Nussey had also wished for a portrait of her friend. Richmond found Charlotte Bronte by no means a good subject; it is well known that he was keen about having a good picture as well as a faithful likeness. Richmond found Charlotte Bronte very depressed, and after she had given him two sittings he lost hope. It was her melancholy expression, as well as her irregular features that troubled him. On her third visit, the Duke of Wellington's servant was just leaving the studio as she entered, which caused Richmond to say in welcoming her, " If you had been here a quarter of an hour sooner, you would have seen the Duke of Wellington." Whereupon she broke out into eager talking about the Duke, and the artist caught the wistful expression given in her portrait.

When Richmond was getting on well with the drawing, Charlotte Bronte stood behind him, looking at it,  he heard a sob, and on turning round she said to him, " Excuse me it is so like my sister Emily."

When the drawing was finished, Mr. George Smith says in his paper, " In the Early Forties," " She burst into tears, and said it was so like her sister Anne, who had died the year before." The fact was, there was a family likeness between the three sisters, but Charlotte was not so good-looking as Emily and Anne. Mrs. Gaskell considered the drawing an excellent likeness, as did others who knew her in 1850.

Mr. Smith sent the drawing, and also a framed portrait of the Duke of Wellington as a present for Mr. Bronte, whom, as an Irishman, he greatly admired.

This portrait of Charlotte Bronte I never saw before.

Unknown woman, formerly known as Charlotte Brontë (Mrs A.B. Nicholls)

by Unknown artist
watercolour, 1850
urchased, 1906
for more information about this portrait read this

Thackeray’s daughter, the writer Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie recalled a visit to her father by Charlotte Brontë:

…two gentlemen come in, leading a tiny, delicate, serious, little lady, with fair straight hair, and steady eyes. She may be a little over thirty; she is dressed in a little barège dress with a pattern of faint green moss.  

 

Barège dress = (a lightweight fabric woven of silk or cotton and wool) 

---------------------------------

A lot of discussion is going on about this portrait of Landseer. Read more on these weblogs:

Landseer could have travelled through the Brontes' home town of Haworth whilst visiting his friend John Nussey at Bolton Hall in Yorkshire. Nussey was the also brother of Charlotte Bronte's friend Ellen.

http://abigailsateliers.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/the-new-bronte-portrait/

http://soeursbronte.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/les-bronte-par-edwin-landseer-un-portrait-controverse/

http://bronteblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-bronte-portrait.html

http://bookstains.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/did-the-real-charlotte-bronte-just-stand-up-the-debate/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/8196844.stm

Funny information on these weblogs

http://soeursbronte.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/a-la-recherche-des-soeurs-bronte-2/

http://bjtanke.com/BRONTE/

http://bjtanke.com/BRONTE/page%209.htm

Ruring a visit to London Charlotte visit the Royal Academie and is looking to a painting of Landseer. This is the only official occasion that the Bronte name is connected with Landseer.

I am going on in my search for more information about the Richmond and Landseer portraits and Charlotte's photo's.

 

A photograph believed

to be that of Charlotte Brontë

taken in the last year

 of her life in 1854.

Courtesy Brontë Parsonage Museum
 

Artist not known
Brontë Parsonage Museum
circa 1839

A head and shoulders portrait of Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) showing her wearing a bonnet. It is possible that this is the portrait Charlotte writes about while on her second visit to Brussels in 1843. This would suggest the artist is Mary Dixon.

Medium: ink, crayon, chalk & wash
Dimensions: diameter: 15.5cm
Vendor: Sotheby's
Provenance
Martha Brown (a servant in the Bronte household), 1855; William Law; Sotheby's, 2004.

Recently restored chalk drawing of Charlotte Bronte which was purchased at Sotherbys in 2004 and carefully restored to its former glory by experts.

When I see these portraits
I wonder
Why did Charlotte think she is ugly?

 

This is the latest discussed portrait

I have a problem with the hat of  ""Emily""

I think it is of a later period

 

But sure this portrait

 shows the kind of wild and imagenary beauty I imagine the sisters could have

More info on brontesisters