Charlotte Brontë exhibit at the Morgan

In honor of Charlotte Brontë 's 200th birthday , The Morgan Library in New York is having, what can only be called an historic exhibit.  On display , for the first time in American, are both the George Richmond 1850 portrait of Charlotte and the famous" column"  portrait of the three  sister by their brother Branwell.

I  never expected they would leave the UK. Branwell's  portrait of his  three sisters is usually always on display at the National Portrait Galley in London. But because it is subject to fading, the 1850  chalk  portrait of CB  Richmond is not normally on display even in the UK...but here it is in New York!  

Charlotte Brontë by George Richmond 1850

This is the actual picture that hung in the Parsonage from 1850- 61 and then spent 40 years in the Irish  home of Charlotte's husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls. This is the portrait  he asked to have brought up to his bedroom as he laid dying in 1906. It was there as he spoke his last words." Charlotte, Charlotte" over fifty years after her own passing

Arthur Bell Nicholls bequeathed this precious portrait  to the nation  and it has been at the National Portrait Galley since...now until Jan 2nd 2017, it hangs  in New York 

Also in Arthur's home, but unbeknownst to anyone until years after his passing, was the column portrait. Today we have seen these images so many times, it's hard to imagine at time when they were unknown or not housed in museums.

Branwell's column painting of his sisters

The column (so nicknamed because Branwell's ghostly , painted out figure makes a column) was  found folded up on top of a wardrobe. ABN's 2nd wife, Mary Anna , who resided in the home for 40 years as well. She  had never seen it before and did not know of it. It's interesting to ponder on the very  different treatment these two pictures received. I rather think Arthur found the painting of the three teenage Brontë girls painful, knowing their fates, and this is why it was folded away and nearly  forgotten.

The Richmond however shows CB with a happy expression ...it is amazing to see in person. It's unlike any of the dozens of its prints  I have seen in books, postcards  and such. I can understand Arthur's love for it . Charlotte's lovableness is there 

But these two pictures are just the beginning of this marvelous exhibit. Also on display is the manuscript of " Jane Eyre" , from the British Museum,  one of Charlotte's dresses from Haworth Parsonage...actually I simply should just post a list, because it's rather stunning  how much  there is for the Brontë   fan to feast upon.  I was asked to give my impressions of the show, but really it was too overwhelming for me to do so in a sensible manner! 

The Morgan has  its own  impressive collection of Brontë documents ....well let me just post the list. It is not complete  
                                      

Branwell's column painting of his sisters

The CB 1850  Richmond portrait

Both in the USA for the first time 


CB 's 1850 London dress/ little blue flower print

close up of CB's dress

 

CB's boots
a 1856 copy of CB's birth registry

Patrick's copy of of the certificate of registry for CB's marriage
( these are church copies of the documents in their records)

CB and ABN's Marriage license

CBN's will

Letters from CB to William S. William about the passing
of Branwell and Anne's decline

An copy book from Charlotte's Brussels school days

The famous water color portrait of Anne in profile done by CB

The Misses Brontë 's Establishment handout

Funeral cards for Branwell, Emily and Charlotte

A copy Partick Brontë 's cottage poems

A copy of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell  book of  poems

Father and daughter publications

 

CB's handwritten manuscript of " Jane Eyre"

CB's handwritten manuscript of " The Professor"

CB's earliest known production...1829 " book for Ann"

A manuscript of Anne's poetry

A manuscript of Emily poetry
A story in Branwell's hand

Oldest photo of the Parsonage

CB's Roe Head diary

CB's 1829  list of " what I written so far" "
Tales of the Islanders" etc.

CB's Writing desk

Charlotte Brontë 's writing desk

CB's Paint box

Mary Taylor's personal copy of Jane Eyre, CB sent
to New Zealand and Mary's letter to CB about it

Contemporary published editions of all the sister's books

sermon notes of PB from 1811 based on Mathew 3:11

A good many drawings

little men magazines

CB's Atlas

Photo of Arthur Bell Nicholls

Photo of Rev Brontë

Rev Brontë 's copy of the book of Common Prayer

One of Patrick 's letters where he sent snippets of CB 's
hand writing upon request

We will not see such a collection in one place  perhaps until Charlotte's 300th birthday!

 The exhibit is open until Jan 2nd 2017.  Don't miss it !

Brontë Novel Update

This Dec will be four years since I felt the call to begin my Brontë novel. I have been writing it continually since. I believe my hope was eventually the scenes  would eventually  meet up to create the book! But that's not how it goes. You have to create a whole from the parts and they are different entities altogether. I'm learning all this on the job. Right now I am putting everything I have written in chronological order.

 Scenes still  come in almost daily  and I write them down. I always put a year and a title to whatever thought comes though...otherwise even I would have a difficult time always  placing the scene in its proper  place within the Bronte story!

When I take the " just plunge in "  approach to such an endeavor I tend  to not think too much about the process . It seems like trying to capture a butterfly by chasing it . Wiser to stay still and observe as it lands on one's sleeve. Eventually, however,  you must deal with  the process , but by then one has something to work with. Now I can sense the book is ready to be shaped and I'm looking forward to pulling these scenes together into one piece.

 In my  exploration of both painting and writing, projects advance when the task becomes  fun, and not a job I should do. When it's fun, you have an energy that is absent from a chore . Every chick must leave its shell, but only when ready

I periodically reread Charlotte' s major letters and I find the practice  invaluable. They haven't changed over time , but one's perceptive does...and I have learned to really read again items I have read many times over the years ...we tend to think we know the contents and glace them over it.  In this way gems are missed. Some of CB's letters one must study word for word. She says everything, but often it's hidden in an understament.   


FUN!!!

I'm not painting at the moment since I want to get this book in shape. However I did paint a pretend  transom for over our front door( the original was covered over! ) and will post a photo when it is installed. I decided to make it as real as possible. I hope it will fool the eye for at least a few  moments !

I do plan to paint other Romanov pictures in the future , but it's full stream Bronte novel right  now 

Okay, back to work!

1916

Moor meetings and talks

Brontë Novel

There are many aspects of the Charlotte / Arthur story that seem tailor made for the novelist . One of the greatest is their secret meetings on the moor. If it didn't happen, I would have to invent it But it did!

It must of given Charlotte a thrill. Heretofore  such a meeting was an event found only in her  wild youthful  writings or mature novels.  Arthur Bell Nicholls was not the dashing and dangerous   Duke of Zamorna , the dark hero of Charlotte's juvenile  writings (  a great understatement! )  but Arthur Bell Nicholls  was REAL, perhaps disconcertingly so,  and  he adored her ...that has a charm all its own particularly at this lonely time in Charlotte's  life.

I have so many moor conversations  between them,   that I must carefully weave them  all together in terms of drawing the two  people slowly together. Charlotte and Arthur  both witnessed the same  things at the Parsonage over  the 8 years Arthur was there before declaring himself. But these events were seen  from  their very different view points  Their perspectives need to be expressed and exchanged. They have a lot to talk about and in doing so they  inform the reader.

 In fact I have a number of different  versions of the  same conversations. It's interesting to see the same idea in different words  Now  I have decide which of these conversations best convey the given  idea  and WHERE  to put  what  in the 18 months  of courtship . It also means splicing/ blending  different conversations together.

My on going research is often chagrining things too , which require rewriting scenes  . I believe one of the reasons Charlotte told her father about her proceedings when she did  was so she and Arthur  get out of the cold! lol

It's Ellen

Ellen Nussey

About 30 years ago a photo was discovered that many believed was of Charlotte Brontë in profile. ( seen here on the left) I've been on the fence about it for some time. It did seem like Ellen Nussey...yet  the nose did not seem the same  to me. ( as you can see here between the two photos ) But  I felt one day something indisputable would come  my attention  to help me decide  either way  and it has . Its the hair ..the ringlet .

 When I saw the first photo, said to be CB , it was so dark, I could not see the  ringlet  in the ear area.  It looked like the hair in the Richmond portrait.  Much later  I saw a lighter print and there was a complex ringlet. That didn't seem some thing Charlotte would have . I recently saw a good many photos of Ellen Nussey over the years and that ringlet is in them all. She only turns to a bun in old age. The hair tells me  the photo purported to be Charlotte  is sadly , of Ellen. We are still without a photo of Charlotte Brontë

Looking at writing from the inside out

Reading is a  very different  experience since I have been writing for three years now. It's like looking at writing from the inside out . Like the words are superimposed  on glass and I see them from behind is the best way to explain it . One sees the under pinning

E. M.  Delafield

The Brontes, their lives recorded by their contemporaries

E. M.  Delafield was an author best known for her book, Diary of a Provincial Lady. I found she compiled a book about the Brontes in 1935  that  grouped  referances by subject. It's interesting to see the material grouped together in this  manner

 She also wrote a enjoyable book called " Ladies and Gentlemen in Victorian Fiction"

An over view of Victorian fiction . Her introduction  begins 

The lover of the Victorian novel is not made, but born and not always in the Victoria era"

How true! I find this book a great help in writing my own " Victorian" novel  I gain a great deal by looking at Brontë books of  the past . There is a feast of them

And now for something silly;

 Baseball cards for Team Brontë

I found a web site that will allow one to make baseball cards from photos . Wouldn't it be fun to make Brontë baseball cards? So I did, with nicknames too!

They will be bigger if you open a new window for them

Trade 'em , collect 'em! lol

It's been so chilly in my studio, I haven't been painting , but hope to soon! 

okay, back to work!