Charlotte Bronte and Turner.

Letter to W. S. Williams (31 July 1848)

I have lately been reading Modern Painters, and I have derived from the work much genuine pleasure and, I hope, some edification; at any rate it made me feel how ignorant I had previously been on the subject which it treats. Hitherto I have only had instinct to guide me in judging of art; I feel now as if I had been walking blindfold — this book seems to give me eyes. I do wish I had pictures within reach by which to test the new sense. Who can read these glowing descriptions of (J. M. W.) Turner’s works without longing to see them? However eloquent and convincing the language in which another’s opinion is placed before you, you still wish to judge for yourself. I like this author’s style much; there is both energy and beauty in it: I like himself too, because he is such a hearty admirer. He does not give Turner half-measure of praise or veneration; he eulogizes, he reverences him (or rather his genius) with his whole soul. One can sympathize with that sort of devout, serious admiration (for he is no rhapsodist) one can respect it; and yet possibly many people would laugh at it. I am truly obliged to Mr. Smith for giving me this book, not having often met with one that has pleased me more.

• Charlotte Brontë, on Modern Painters, Vol. 1 (1843), by John Ruskin. Letter to W. S. Williams (31 July 1848) The Letters of Charlotte Brontë

gutenberg

Frosty Morning was painted from a scene that Turner had witnessed in Yorkshire and when Claude Monet saw the painting decades later, he declared that Turner had painted it with “wide-open eyes.”
arteyewitness/turner-constable

Charlotte Brontë wrote in 1848 to WS Williams on reading Ruskin’s Modern Painters.
A year later on 5 December she sent a letter to her father from London:

‘I have seen the pictures in the National Gallery.  I have seen a beautiful exhibition of Turner’s paintings’.

carefully distinguishing one from the other (as Heather Glen notes in Charlotte Brontë: The Imagination in History OUP 2002).  On 14 February 1850 she wrote to her friend Margaret Wooler of having seen

‘one or two private collections of Turner’s best water colour drawings’ as well as ‘his later oil-paintings’. turnerintottenham

What became the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), published by Smith, Elder & Co. under the anonymous but authoritative title, "A Graduate of Oxford," was Ruskin’s response to Turner’s critics. wiki/John_Ruskin

Paintings of Turner. google/Turner 

Emily Bronte's birthday and the diary papers she and Anne were writing on her birthdays.

 

Today we celebrate

the birthday of Emily Bronte

 

Emily Bronte was born on 30 juli 1818

Emily and Anne Bronte

had agreed to write each a kind of reminiscence

 every four years

 to be opened by Emily on her birthday

 

Here the drawings Emily made on these diary papers

 

 

 

 The table was featured in an 1837 diary paper sketch by Emily,

 showing herself and Anne writing at the table with all their papers scattered before them.

  

 

 

Aren't they great these drawings?

 

Can we not imaging Emily

 sitting in her small room with Keeper at her feet

Or laying on her bed watching the stars in te night

 creating her beautiful strong poems and Wuthering Heights?

 

 

No Coward Soul is Mine

No coward soul is mine,

No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:

I see Heaven’s glories shine,

And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

 

Remembrance

Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee,

Far, far, removed, cold in the dreary grave!

Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,

Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?

 

Read all: wuthering-heights/emily-bronte-poetry

 

 

 Clement Shorter: The last words that I have to say concerning Emily

 are contained in a letter to me from Miss Ellen Nussey.

‘So very little is known of Emily Brontë,’ she writes, ‘that every little detail awakens an interest.  Her extreme reserve seemed impenetrable, yet she was intensely lovable; she invited  confidence in her moral power. Few people have the gift of looking and smiling as she could look and smile.  One of her rare expressive looks was something to remember through life, there was such a depth of soul and feeling, and yet a shyness of revealing herself—a strength of self-containment seen in no other. She was in the strictest sense a law unto herself, and a heroine in keeping to her law. She and gentle Anne were to be seen twined together as united statues of power and humility. They were to be seen with their arms lacing each other in their younger days whenever their occupations permitted their Union. On the top of a moor or in a deep glen Emily was a child in spirit for glee and enjoyment; or when thrown entirely on her own resources to do a kindness, she could be vivacious in conversation and enjoy giving pleasure. A spell of mischief also lurked in her on occasions when out on the moors. She enjoyed leading Charlotte where she would not dare to go of her own free-will. Charlotte had a mortal dread of unknown animals, and it was Emily’s pleasure to lead her into close vicinity, and then to tell her of how and of what she had done, laughing at her horror with great amusement. If Emily wanted a book she might have left in the sitting-room she would dart in again without looking at any one, especially if any guest were present. Among the curates, Mr. Weightman was her only exception for any conventional courtesy. The ability with which she took up music was amazing; the style, the touch, and the expression was that of a professor absorbed heart and soul in his theme. The two dogs, Keeper and Flossy, were always in quiet waiting by the side of Emily and Anne during their breakfast of Scotch oatmeal and milk, and always had a share handed down to them at the close of the meal. Poor old Keeper, Emily’s faithful friend and worshipper, seemed to understand her like a human being.  One evening, when the four friends were sitting closely round the fire in the sitting-room, Keeper forced himself in between Charlotte and Emily and mounted himself on Emily’s lap; finding the space too limited for his comfort he pressed himself forward on to the guest’s knees, making himself quite comfortable.  Emily’s p. 180heart was won by the unresisting endurance of the visitor, little guessing that she herself, being in close contact, was the inspiring cause of submission to Keeper’s preference. Sometimes Emily would delight in showing off Keeper—make him frantic in action, and roar with the voice of a lion.  It was a terrifying exhibition within the walls of an ordinary sitting-room.  Keeper was a solemn mourner at Emily’s funeral and never recovered his cheerfulness.’gutenberg CHAPTER VI

academic.brooklyn/diary_papers 

bl.uk/collection-items/emily-brontes-diary-1837

More about Clement Shorter: independent

lib.udel.edu//shorter

 

 

Clement Shorter received the diary papers from Arthur Bell Nicolls when he was visiting him in Ireland after the death of Charlotte Bronte. I am still searching on the internet of  a story about this happening.

 

Anne repplies: It's my understanding Arthur found these papers hidden in a tin box in 1895 . If it was Charlotte who destroyed Emily and Anne's papers, she missed gems because they were hidden.

Arthur found them when looking over what he had for Shorter...He didn't know of them before. Nicholls said to Shorter, that if he had not asked him to look for items, it's likely this box would have been discarded when Arthur passed ...and what if he had not brought that box from Haworth 40 years before ?!

We can't fault Arthur for being possessive when we have benefited by it so richly. Many Bronte items would have been lost if he had not held on to them for those 40 years When giving Shorter the diaries , Arthur said with feeling " Those poor girls!"

Bronte Waterfall

Astrud Turner ‏@astrud_turner l.

Bronte Waterfall in #Haworth only drawback of it being a sunny day is that there wasn't much water!

De Literaire Toerist: Brontë Bedevaart | Lezentv.nl: Iedere week boekenweek

De Literaire Toerist: Brontë Bedevaart | Lezentv.nl: Iedere week boekenweek

Keeper's collar

 

Keeper's collar

 

bronteparsonage

Very interesting news. The University of of Manchester Library has digitised several Elizabeth Gaskell's manuscripts, letters (and letters sent to her) and published them online:

Highlights from the collection are the unedited ‘warts and all version’ of her biography of Charlotte Brontë and the original handwritten manuscript of Wives and Daughters. This was left incomplete as she died on 12 November 1865 before she was able to finish it and is the only ‘complete’ manuscript of any of Gaskell’s novels which survives.  The University of Manchester Library are using cutting edge technology to digitise selected works from their internationally renowned Gaskell collection which includes:

 Four of her literary manuscripts
-Collections of letters to Gaskell from Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë
-Correspondence between Gaskell and various friends and acquaintances
-Gaskell’s descendants have also kindly given permission for items from the Elizabeth -Gaskell Family Collection to be photographed by the Library.

 Gems from this collection include:
-Gaskell’s passport
-A portrait of Gaskell by Samuel Laurence dating from 1854
-A portrait miniature of her aunt, Hannah Lumb, who brought her up in Knutsford (Gaskell referred to her aunt as her ‘more than mother’)

The digital collection is being launched to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Gaskell’s death this year. The online Elizabeth Gaskell collection can be viewed here:
 http://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/Gaskell2~91~1

There you can find a goldmine with letters by Charlotte Brontë, Patrick Brontë and the manuscript of The Life of Charlotte Brontë: bronteblog

The owner has contacted the Daily Mail and the Brontë Parsonage and several experts give their opinion:

It is clearly a photo with a story to tell – and collector Seamus Molloy hopes it will earn a place in the history of literature. For he believes the subjects in the grainy antique picture, which cost him only £15 on eBay, are Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. If so, it would be the only known photo of the sisters. Mr Molloy, 47, bought the 4½in by 3¼in image because he thought its subjects resembled the Brontës in the only known surviving portrait of them, painted by their brother Branwell. (...) Yesterday Catherine Rayner, of the Brontë Society, said: ‘It would be wonderful if it is. It is worth investigating. 'We have discussed it and there is a possibility it might go forward for some sort of forensic examination. 'Most of me is saying I don’t think it can be them. But we are not dismissing it.’ Ann Dinsdale, of the Brontë Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, said: ‘It seems unlikely that the Brontës would have been photographed. 'Photography was in its infancy. The family was quite reclusive and Emily and Anne were unknown at that time. 'Naturally there is a huge interest in what they looked like. However, provenance of images is hard to establish and sadly we may never really know.’ (...) Mr Molloy has also contacted the National Portrait Gallery, where photographs cataloguer Constantia Nicolaides said there were ‘notable differences’ in the brow lines and lip shape of the subjects in the photograph from those of the sisters as painted by Branwell. Two historical costume experts, contacted by the Mail without being told it was believed to be a photograph of the Brontës, dated the clothing worn by the women to around 1850 - tantalisingly close to the latest date it could have been taken, 1848 when Emily died. The National Media Museum in Bradford told Mr Molloy the image is a ‘collodian positive’, a process that was commercially available after 1852, and doubted a photographer would have used that to copy an even earlier form of photograph as it would have been ‘practically difficult’. (David Wilkes)

If this is a real picture of the Brontës, then I'm Heathcliff! (...)
Emily, after years of withering away, died of TB in 1848, Anne a year later. All, in this photograph, look as healthy as three Yorkshire puds. This photograph would have had to be taken in the 1840s, when photographic portraiture was in its infancy. This trio have left, the eye suggests, their infancy some way behind them. The one on the left (with a prayer book in her hand) looks middle-aged. Exposures, for the earliest photographs, took many minutes (trees were, for that reason, favourite objects: it can get boring). (John Sutherland)

You’ve got to think, why would there be a picture of them? There’s certainly no record of them ever having had a photograph taken. Everybody wants to know what the Brontës looked like – I regularly get sent images, either portraits or photographs, of either one woman or three women, and people think that they’re the Brontës. We do what we can, but if the image has got no provenance and it’s not documented anywhere, it’s really difficult. Even if you can look at it and say, ‘well the hairstyles are absolutely right, the costume is right,’ it’s still difficult to know for sure. (Ann Disndale) 

bronteblog

Charlotte Brontë Auctioned Watercolours. The Details

Thursday 16 July 2015

 

THE BRONTË Society has bought two Charlotte Brontë watercolours during an auction at Sotheby’s. The watercolours have been attributed by experts to Charlotte, the writer of classic novel Jane Eyre.

 

One picture, a study of a white carnation, and the other depicting a convolvulus, a crocus and an aster, were previously unknown and have never been on public display.

They are connected to the Sidgwick family, for whom Charlotte Brontë worked as a governess in 1839. Although best-known for her writing, Charlotte Brontë’s early ambition was to earn her living as an artist. She was an accomplished painter, but came to realise she did not have the necessary level of skill to have a career in this field. However, her ability to observe and accurately record detail was a valuable foundation for her written work and a contributing factor in her subsequent success as a writer.

Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, said staff were delighted to have acquired the two paintings for the museum.                

                                                                                              

She said: “Although unsigned, they have excellent provenance and are stylistically similar to other Charlotte Brontë paintings already in the Brontë Society’s collection. “We look forward to putting them on display in the Parsonage as part of Charlotte Brontë’s bicentenary celebrations next year.”
keighleynews

Yorkshire screenwriter Sally Wainwright reveals all about her new Bronte drama

“I’m not interested in chocolate box representations,” says the Halifax-born screenwriter behind Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. “I want it to be authentic. It’s very easy for these kind of historic dramas to slip into easy cliche, but right from the start I was determined to get past the Brontë myth which has inevitably romanticised and overshadowed the lives and careers of Emily, Charlotte and Ann. I wanted to immerse myself in what life was really like for these three women living in the north of England.”

Wainwright, who describes herself as a lifelong fan of the Brontës, did what she always does when it comes to research and buried her head in books. Lots of books. With just two hours to tell her story, she knew that it would be impossible to tell the full Brontë biopic. Nor did she want to, preferring instead to focus on one particular story arc. In the end she settled on the three years from 1845 to 1848, which for the Brontës were packed with more drama and tragedy than most families see in a lifetime. Read all the article: yorkshirepost

Look on the Bronte table.

 

keighleynews

Norton Conyers. The home said to have inspired Charlotte Bronte is opening to the public

 

A HIDDEN staircase leading to the “madwoman in the attic” which is thought to have inspired the novelist Charlotte Bronte will go on public view for the first time later this month.
The writer is believed to have visited Norton Conyers in 1839, seen the attics, and heard the family legend of “Mad Mary” who was secretly confined to an end room, as far away as possible from the rest of the house.

When Brontë wrote her 1847 classic Jane Eyre, she created the character of Edward Rochester’s Creole first wife who he locks away in the upper floors of his sprawling manor “three storeys high, of proportions not vast though considerable: a gentleman’s manor house” - which owners Sir James and Lady Graham say perfectly sums up the exterior of the house, near Ripon.

The house reopens for just a week from July 19 to July 26, and there is expected to be high demand to see the fruit of extensive repair and conservation work, which has seen the house closed to the public for the last eight years.  Read all:  yorkshirepost

The birth of Branwell Bronte.

Branwell Brontë was the fourth of six children and the only son of Patrick Brontë (1777–1861) and his wife, Maria Branwell Brontë (1783–1821).^[2][3] He was born in Thornton, near Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire,^[2

Photo:

Bronte Parsonage Museum

 

June Weekend - excursion to Plymouth Grove

 

Isobel Stirk writes:

Our journey on the Brontë Society’s excursion to Manchester was certainly pleasant. It took us through some beautiful Lancashire countryside with the brooding Pendle Hill lurking in the background and soon our driver was skilfully negotiating the busy traffic of Manchester and we arrived at our destination- Plymouth Grove.

The house boasts a delightful tea room and we were offered tea or coffee and delicious cakes. We were told that when Charlotte was in residence there she asked, one evening, to be served only black tea as green tea made her very restless. Mrs Gaskell was in somewhat of a dilemma as the only tea they had was a mixture of both. She did not inform Charlotte of this but when asked next morning if she had slept well Charlotte answered very much in the affirmative. After partaking of this mouth- watering repast it was time to move on from this house which had been restored so well and sensitively- with not a touch of pink in sight! bronteparsonage/june-weekend-excursion-to-plymouth-grove

Smallpox around the Haworth area

 

William seems to have lived his whole life in the area around Old Snap, and died in 1823, and was buried at Haworth Churchyard, as the following parish record shows, written by the hand of Rev’d Patrick Bronte. 

Interesting article. Read all on: bancroftsfromyorkshire

Flowers in the Parsonage Museum

 

 

 

facebook/Firenza Flowers