The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë) by Patrick Brontë

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The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë and Charlotte Brontë)

Patrick Brontë (1817-1848)

c. 1834

Oil on canvas

35 1/2 in. x 29 3/8 in. (902 mm x 746 mm)

Purchased, 1914

Image downloaded by kind permission of the gallery; text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [Click on the image to enlarge it, and see below for commentary.]

Described by Jane Sellars as "one of the best-known and most loved literary portraits in the world" (67), the teenage Branwell's portrait of his sisters was probably quite experimental. It was a very early effort to paint in oils, and perhaps not taken too seriously: Branwell had, apparently, put himself into the portrait as well, but then decided to paint himself out of it. Still, Sellars believes that, despite or perhaps because of the eccentricities of its composition, it has "a fragile beauty and haunting mystery" about it (74). Its miraculous survival is certainly something for which to be most grateful.

Bibliography

Sellars, Jane. "The Art of Branwell Brontë." The Art of the Brontës, by Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 65-99.

Created 17 May 2024