America finally meets Charlotte Brontë at The Morgan Library & Museum's Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will exhibition September 9, 2016 through January 2, 2017

Photograph taken by Kimberly Eve of Victorian Musings

Charlotte Brontë's dress and pair of shoes 

The Morgan Library & Museum

A close-up photograph of Charlotte Bronte's dress taken by Kimberly Eve/Victorian Musings

Who would have ever thought you could fill the Bronte family into one room! No, not the Parsonage but a room on the second floor of The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.   You see, this is an exhibition focused upon third born sibling Charlotte Bronte. However, father, Patrick Bronte, sisters Emily and Anne are present as well along with brother Branwell and maybe a husband, too!  Perhaps the greatest author of the nineteenth-century can be discovered, re-discovered, adored and revered right here in the city of my birth.

I am not sure if every little girl discovers Jane Eyre in their pre-teens as I did but I have carried that orphaned girl who became Mrs. Rochester with me all my life. I know her, she is real to me and always will be. I always thought I would have visited Haworth by now but alas it hasn't happened yet. I made it to the dales but that was all.  So, when news of this exhibit finally reached social media I was beyond thrilled to see it; for I thought it would be her manuscript of Jane Eyre, her letters, her drawings perhaps. This would have been enough for me until The Morgan released that photographic image of her blue dress...Absolutely impossible I thought to myself. In no way would Haworth release the Bronte family items; especially not across the pond!  I am so glad to have been wrong.  

The minute you step out of the glass elevator from the lobby to the second floor you make a sharp right turn and open the glass doors. There it is! Dead center encased in glass was the dress Charlotte Bronte 'supposedly' wore to that party when she met her literary idol, William Makepeace Thackeray.  Just cast your eyes to the left and you will see the smallest pair of flat shoes I have ever seen. Even at her 4'9 height (though I thought her height was 4'11) her shoes were indeed tiny, flattened thinned soles with laces on either side. I know because I bent down almost sitting on the floor to take the photographs in order to see both sides. They look to be fabric material on top small brown polka dots. The bottom of her shoes leather maybe or is it plastic imitation still thin with no support. How in the devil did she and her sisters walk forty miles across the moors through all sorts of rough terrain and weather?  Goodness, I get a charley-horse if I try to walk more than one mile! 

On the first wall of the exhibit was Charlotte Bronte's baptismal record. Next to it was the famous carte-des-viste of the father of the Bronte's himself. I gasped audibly not expecting to see it. Everyone recognizes this image I am sure. It is smaller than I thought but the white cropped framing makes it look larger than it is.  Interestingly, there was no drawing or image of their mother, Maria at all.  The focus remained on the Rev. Bronte as leader and guide of his daughters and son's lives most probably because he outlived them all and his letters survive. 

Carte-de-viste photograph of a woman, 

possibly Charlotte Bronte but more likely 

Ellen Nussey, ca. 1856 

The Morgan Library and Museum Catalog note

Photograph by Kimberly Eve/Victorian Musings

I was not prepared to see this photograph. I just never gave it much thought but I am so glad I have. It is one of the most curious photographs to survive within the Bronte family archive. If it is Ellen Nussey, can you believe what all the fuss is about? I hope you and Charlotte are having a good laugh over us all down here engaging in such silliness. Now when it comes to portraits there are two almost sacred ones and both of them can be found here in the exhibit. 

Branwell Bronte was about seventeen when he began this unfinished portrait, depicting his teenage sisters over a decade before they published the novels that made them famous. During the 1950s, infrared photography confirmed the presence of a fourth figure-presumably a self-portrait that Branwell had chosen to efface-beneath the central pillar. As the oil paint has faded over time, the ghostly image has become ever more apparent to the naked eye.

The painting's condition reflects its history. Arthur Bell Nicholls, Charlotte's widower, took the work from Haworth parsonage to his new home in Banagher, Ireland, after Patrick Bronte's death. In 1914, Nicholls second wife, Mary Ann, discovered the painting on top of a wardrobe in their farmhouse, where it had apparently lain folded for over fifty years. It was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery that year and placed on display, to the public's great fascination. A century later, it is on view here for the first time in North America. (The Morgan Library & Museum Charlotte Bronte: An Independent Will exhibition catalog note)

Look!  There it is!  Oh, it is iconic isn't it?   By now, everyone knows this painting and perhaps even the story painted by their brother Branwell.  I couldn't believe I was standing in the same room with all of these treasures that I have seen photographed in every Bronte biography printed since the dawn of time.  It is a large enough portrait in size and hard to describe the feeling of being able to freely walk up to it, for it is not roped off or behind glass. You can breath on it, touch it (they hate that) or just gaze at it imploringly as I did right before I heard in my mind a whisper, "Kimberly, hurry up"  What was that? The room is filled with people walking around this room. So, I did what any rational woman does when they hear an imaginary voice, "Alright, Charlotte I'm coming! You're almost as impatient as I am". 

On the other side of the wall of the family portrait was the independent willed one herself, Charlotte Bronte captured by George Richmond in his beautiful drawing from 1850. His signature can be seen in the left hand corner. Again, it was as if the noise in the room softened, crowded voices hushed; almost stilled and all I could focus on was the fact that I was actually able to walk up to this drawing and take my time studying every detail. Of course, the folks around me hated me because I took forever but I didn't care for I had waited a lifetime for this moment. No, I'm not breaking into song but if I ever make it to Yorkshire I just might!  (Watch out Nick) 

In 1850, publisher George Smith commissioned this portrait of his celebrated author as a gift for her father, Patrick. Sitting for a professional artist was traumatic for the self-conscious Bronte, but none of her discomfort is evident in George Richmond's graceful rendering. This is the only professional portrait for which she sat during her lifetime and the only surviving life portrait except for her brother Branwell's painting of his sisters, which is on view in the rear of the gallery.

The portrait hung in the dining room of Haworth parsonage during Patrick Bronte's lifetime and an engraving of the work served as the frontispiece to the first volume of Elizabeth Gaskell's 1857 Life of Charlotte Bronte. It has appeared in countless studies of the Brontes since then and is on view in North America for the first time. (The Morgan Library & Museum Charlotte Bronte: An Independent Will catalog note). 

 

Charlotte Bronte letter to Ellen Nussey dated Brussels, 6 March, 1843

Bronte Parsonage Museum 

I was so happy to find that The Morgan included Charlotte's friendship with Ellen Nussey as part of the exhibit. It is so important to include not only spouses but lifelong friends of the subject as it provides a much different and needed perspective on someone who has reached an iconic status in literature and the world. 

I wrote an article about Ellen Nussey and her friendship with Charlotte Bronte. If anyone would like to learn a bit about Charlotte's dear friend Ellen Nussey 

Charlotte Bronte's younger sister, Anne Bronte was also included in this exhibit. Her notebook, her poetry was displayed and Charlotte's portrait of Anne is here as well. 

Anne's Poetry Notebook rebound later by Riviere & Son, 1838-41

Anne Bronte made neat copies of nine compositions in this notebook but eventually selected only one for inclusion in the 1846 volume of poems she published with her sisters. Her narrative poem, "The Parting" shown here, bears no resemblance to Charlotte's sentimental poem of (almost) the same title. (The Morgan Library & Museum)

Charlotte Bronte's portrait of her sister, Anne Bronte

17 June 1834, Watercolor drawing,

Bronte Parsonage Museum

There were so many treasured personal items belonging to Charlotte and her siblings that I couldn't possibly share them all. These are just some of the special ones that touched my heart that I have been longing to cast my eyes upon. I am so grateful to Bronte Parsonage Museum for loaning their belongings to The Morgan for lucky ones such as I.  One day I will walk through the doors of the parsonage, hopefully accompanied by a friend (you know who you are) and I will see much more!!  

Discover Charlotte Bronte: An Independent Will for yourself,  The Morgan Library & Museum

A birthday between friends: Ellen Nussey (20 April 1817–26 November 1897) and Charlotte Bronte (21 April 1816–31 March 1855)

 “Friendship, however, is a plant which cannot be forced. True friendship is no gourd, springing in a night and withering in a day. When first I saw Ellen I did not care for her; we were school fellows. In course of time we learned each other’s faults and good points. We were contrasts still we suited. Affection was first a germ, then a sapling, then a strong tree. Now, no new friend, however lofty or profound in intellect not even Miss Martineau herself could be to me what Ellen is: yet she is no more than a conscientious, observant, calm, well-bred Yorkshire girl. She is without romance.” Charlotte Bronte describing her friendship with Ellen Nussey in a letter to Mr. Williams dated January 3, 1850.

 

Portrait of a young woman looking over her right shoulder towards the viewer: head held high; broad, open features, large almond-shaped brown eyes, high arched eyebrows, long nose, full highly colored pink cheeks and lips: glossy brown shoulder-length ringlets cover her head, part of a bow visible at back right; bare shoulders with a ribbon around neck. It is said to be a portrait of Ellen Nussey by Charlotte Bronte. This drawing was found amongst Ellen Nussey’s effects between May 18-19, 1898. It is now housed at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

Does anyone else see that Ellen Nussey and Charlotte Bronte were born one day and one year apart? How have I never come to realize that fact before? On April 21, 1816 Maria Bronte nee Branwell gave birth to Charlotte  Bronte in Thornton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Twelve months later, on 20 April, 1817 Ellen Nussey nee Wade (1771-1857)  gave birth to Ellen Nussey also in West Riding of Yorkshire, England in a small house on Smithies Moore Lane.The youngest of twelve siblings, her father John Nussey (1760-1826) was a cloth merchant of Birstall Smithies. Upon his death in 1826, their mother Ellen Wade Nussey moved her twelve children into their Grand Uncle Richard Walker's home called  Rydings. Years later, Ellen Nussey's old friend Charlotte Bronte would name a grand house Thornfield in Jane Eyre. Rydings is believed to be used as the model for it. 

 Young woman at table by Charlotte Bronte, 1838

owned by Ellen Nussey

Bronte Parsonage Museum

 

Ellen Nussey’s education was varied. For instance, at a young age she first attended a small local school before entering into Gomersal Moravian Ladies’ Academy. Finally, on 25 January 1831 Ellen Nussey walked into  Margaret Wooler’s school at Roe Head. It was here a fourteen year old Ellen met fifteen year old Charlotte Bronte. In 1836, Ellen Wade moved her family to Brookroyd in Birstall into a much smaller house than Rydings.  So begins the lifelong friendship between two young girls from Yorkshire England.

Charlotte Bronte by George Richmond

Ellen Nussey would visit Charlotte at Haworth often eventually becoming fast friends with her sisters Emily and Anne. She even earned the approval of their father, Rev. Patrick Bronte. Ellen was always present or nearby during all of the Bronte sisters life events good and bad. She would be a good friend to the three sisters but there was that bond between she and Charlotte, especially. Their friendship even survived Charlotte's rejection of a marriage proposal from Ellen brother's Henry. Now, that's true friendship. Come on girls didn't you fight sometimes? Go days or months without speaking because of a huge row?

Well apparently their friendship survived all three sisters novel publications and lives as authors. It wasn't until the engagement of Charlotte Bronte to her father's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls late in life that Ellen Nussey became jealous. She didn't communicate with Charlotte for a while. It couldn't have been very long because Ellen was one of two witnesses when Charlotte married Nicholls at Haworth in June of 1854. She was also Charlotte's only bridesmaid, so I guess they made up!  When Charlotte died in March 1855, Ellen dedicated herself to preserving her friend's memory.

Charlotte Bronte's life was filled with family, hearth and home. She worked for a year teaching at her old school Roe Head. She left because she was unhappy and unfulfilled. She was also a governess briefly. Her time in Brussels as a student ended up in heartbreak for her while her sister Emily thrived. She never stayed at one place for very long. Her one constant was her writing, sitting at the rounded table in that tiny room at Haworth. Through every upheaval and happy event she used her feelings, experiences and people she met in her novels: 

Jane Eyre 1847, Shirley 1849, Villette 1853, and The Professor 1857.

 I can understand Charlotte's restlessness, yearning for adventure while still keeping people at bay; only cherishing those she knows and loves. I am much like that myself.  One gets bored easily and seeks out fun and happy times but then has numerous interests it is easy to get overwhelmed by situations and people around you. Charlotte wanted romance but wouldn't admit it. She had three proposals during her lifetime. Marrying quite late in life to a man her father did not care for and a proposal she initially rejected. Lucky for her,  Rev. Arthur Bell Nicholls persisted. Briefly, Charlotte became Mrs. Nicholls and their time together was her happiest. Sadly, pregnancy did not work out for her and it aided in her death in 1855.  

 Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1861

Charlotte Bronte left her legacy as did her sisters and brother. On the other side you have spinster Ellen Nussey who came from the same place, same time, a large enough family with demons of its own. Although, there is not much detail about her life aside from her well known friend Charlotte. She is the keeper of the flame as it were. She preserved her correspondence with Charlotte Bronte which thankfully provides a quite wonderful understanding of who Charlotte was as a friend. Through the Bronte family documentation we know who she was as sister, teacher, governess but only Ellen Nussey let us into her personal world so we could meet her friend of twenty four years (1831-1855).

 “The life of Charlotte Bronte, viewed apart from her high gifts and genius as an authoress, was a very unsensational life; for the most part it was a life of domestic duty, self-sacrifice, fidelity to whatever she believed to be right, fortitude in suffering, and patient resignation under all inevitable trials. What is said of Charlotte may, with almost equal truth, be said of Emily and Anne; thugh they differed greatly in many points of character and disposition, they were each and all on common ground if a principle had to be maintained or a sham to be detected. They were all jealous of anything hollow or unreal. All were resolutely single-minded, eminently courageous, eminently simple in their habits, and eminently tender-hearted. 

I could no longer refuse or delay to set about giving, as a tribute of justice to herself, a few more of her own words, the words of her heart and feelings, as they were elicited by the common accidents and incidents of daily life. The doing of this involves some sacrifice; but to shrink from possible annoyance or discomfort when duly called upon in defence of one we have loved, is indeed to be cowardly and craven-hearted, and unworthy of Charlotte Brontes faithful love and friendship.”  Ellen Nussey describing her friend Charlotte Bronte (and her sisters) in Scribner’s Monthly, May 1871.

  

Is that all Ellen Nussey has given us? I just find it a bit sad that although she lived to the age of eighty years old, what do we know about this woman? If it were not for meeting Charlotte at school and the Bronte family connection who would Ellen Nussey be? We would never have heard of her. How do you live such a long life and have not that much to show for it. Maybe she was content and think me foolish for such thoughts but she didn't marry? Was she proposed to? Did it matter to her?

 Ellen Nussey in old age 1895

On the morning of Friday, November 26, 1897 Miss Ellen Nussey passed away in her Yorshire home. She was the life-long friend of Charlotte Bronte, and the chief, if not sole, personal link existing in connection with that gifted family. Lady Morrison and Ellen Nussey were close friends for more than ten years, 

“In person Ellen Nussey was not striking, but she was sprightly, attractive coquettish, no doubt, in her younger days and intelligent; her manners charming; every word and gesture bearing emphatically the stamp of truth; while her voice, mellowed and modulated to a peculiarly gentle cadence, was exceedingly pleasant to hear. I have often sat beside her, and heard with unfeigned interest her sparkling talk about the Bronte family; have heard her relate incidents and anecdotes in the lives of the sisters, which seemed to me better than any information to be gathered from books. Miss Nussey told me that she considered Branwell, the brother, the cleverest, and most talented of the whole family, and, but for his misused powers, he could, had he chosen, have outstripped his sisters in literature. Many of the incidents which she related go far to prove that Charlotte Bronte was keenly alive to humor, her life, she was at all times open to, and rejoiced in, its gaiety and sunshine. That Ellen Nussey is the prototype of ‘Caroline Helstone’ in Shirley cannot for a moment be doubted. It may be remembered that in one part of the book Caroline was described as wearing a brown dress with a pink bow. When I inquired of Miss Nussey if this also was taken from herself, she said that she was wearing that particular kind of attire at the time Shirley was written. It is to Ellen Nussey that the public is, and will ever be, indebted for authentic information with regard to the Bronte family. But for her, no history of these remarkable people could have gone forth to the world in a truthful and reliable form.”  The Bookman, Volume VI, September, 1897-February, 1898