'New' photograph of Patrick Brontë to be auctioned

We haven't seen the photograph in question yet but we are looking forward to it. This is what the Yorkshire Post reported:

HIS pose is stiff and his expression is stern, but the man in the faded picture was the head of one of world literature's most celebrated families.
And the rare sepia image of The Rev Patrick Brontë – father of novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne – is expected to sell for up to £600 at auction later this month.
The picture, still in its original oval gilt frame, was last auctioned more than 110 years ago, but its whereabouts were a mystery until it was discovered at a provincial antiques fair.
Mr Brontë, a labourer's son and apprentice blacksmith who went on to become Rector of Haworth, appears white-haired and white-beared in the image, which was taken at the dawn of the photographic age.
The picture was once on display along with other Brontë mementoes at the Temperance tearooms in Haworth, but was auctioned in 1898 at the dispersal of the Museum of Brontë Relics.
It was discovered along with a dog-eared copy of the 1898 catalogue, among papers in an old film box and will be sold by Surrey fine art auctioneers Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers on June 24.
The lot is expected to attract bids of between £400 and £600.
A foreword to the 1898 catalogue reads: "A large proportion of these relics was given by members of the Brontë family at various times to William Brown, Sexton at Haworth Church during 20 years of the Rev P Brontë's incumbency, and to his niece Martha Brown, who for many years lived in the Brontë family."
An inscription on the reverse of the portrait, presumably the original museum description, reads: "Rev P Brontë; Various relics including an oval photograph framed and glazed, a small china blue and white plate often used by him and a sword stick."
The picture was owned by Martha Brown, who bought it along with the plate from the Ratcliffe family.
The Brontë Society spent almost £20 at the 1898 sale, purchasing several mementoes.
An unfinished counterpane worked by Emily, Charlotte and Anne went for £1 2s (£1.10), a signed watercolour of Anne's pet dog Flossy for £12 and a lock of Charlotte's hair, taken after her death, for £1 14s (£1.70).
Mr Brontë, whose father was an agricultural labourer, was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1777, the eldest of 10 children.
He was originally apprenticed to a blacksmith and later to a draper and a weaver, but he became a teacher and subsequently gained a place at Cambridge University to read theology.
He was ordained into the Church of England in 1807 and took up a number of curacies before marrying Maria Branwell at Guiseley Church five years later.
Five daughters – Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily and Anne – and a son, Branwell, were born between 1814 and 1820.
Charlotte would go on to write novels including Jane Eyre and Villette, Emily Wuthering Heights and Anne Agnes Gray [sic].
In 1820 Mr Brontë was appointed perpetual curate of Haworth. His wife died of cancer the following year.
He remained in Haworth until his death aged 84 in 1861. He had lived and preached in the parish for 41 years, outliving all his children.

FATHER'S COLD AND UNCARING REPUTATION
When Patrick Brontë approached the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and asked her to write an account of his daughter Charlotte's life, he unwittingly ordered his own character assassination.
For since Mrs Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in the 1850s, Mr Brontë has been commonly described as a cold and uncaring figure.
Mrs Gaskell wrote that he was "not naturally fond of children" and "felt their frequent appearance as a drag both on his wife's strength, and as interruption to the comfort of the household".
She also recalled Mr Brontë's fiery temper and incidents where he burned his children's coloured leather boots and shredded his wife's silk gown because he did not approve of them.
Mr Brontë's reputation was partly rehabilitated in 2005, however, with the publication of a collection of his letters, some of which were written to the National Society.
The book's editor Dudley Green, a retired schoolmaster and life member of the Brontë Society, went on to produce another sympathetic tome last year, Patrick Brontë: Father of Genius. (Rob Preece)

EDIT 5/6/2009: The Independent echoes this story as well and includes a picture of the new-found photograph (source):

In her famous 1857 biography of Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell described the author's clergyman father Patrick as a "strange" and "half-mad" man who was "not naturally fond of children". Ever since, the unfortunate Reverend Brontë, whose children Anne, Emily and Charlotte penned some of the most enduring novels in English literature, has been regarded as a cold and unfeeling man who terrorised his family with his sudden bursts of temper.
Now, an ageing sepia photograph of the Brontë patriarch has resurfaced after missing for more than a century. Discovered at a Midlands antique fair, the picture is still mounted in its original oval gilt frame and shows the elderly rector looking characteristically stern.
The man who spotted the photograph, which was hidden in an old box of papers, has decided to sell it through a specialist auction house in Surrey. The lot is expected to fetch up to £600 when it is sold on 24 June.
Once proudly displayed alongside other Brontë mementos at the Temperance tea rooms in the family's home village of Haworth in West Yorkshire, the picture was auctioned by Sotheby's in 1898 when the Museum of Brontë Relics closed down and sold off everything it owned. It has not been seen since, although copies of the picture are known to exist.
An inscription on the back of the portrait, presumably copied from the museum's description, reads: "Rev P Brontë; Various relics including an oval photograph framed and glazed, a small china blue and white plate often used by him and a sword stick."
In the 1898 sale, the newly established Brontë Society could only afford to spend £20 on mementos, missing out on hundreds of valuable items including the photograph.
Yesterday, in a bitter twist of irony, the society admitted it was again unable to purchase the picture due to financial difficulties.
Andrew McCarthy, the director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, which is owned by the Brontë Society, told The Independent that "limited resources" and the economic crisis prevented the museum from placing a bid.
"We have to be pretty ruthless in terms of what we try to acquire. It's very disappointing not to be able to acquire all Brontë items that come up for sale, but we are a small, independent charity and not immune to the difficult financial climate."
The photograph is likely to fascinate Brontë enthusiasts seeking an answer to the riddle of the patriarch's personality. Many have never understood how an irascible Irish clergyman came to father three writers of such talent, who between them produced Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Born in Ireland in 1777, Patrick Brontë was one of 10 children. His father was an agricultural labourer and the young Patrick started out as a blacksmith's apprentice before leaving to pursue a university education at Cambridge. He was ordained into the Church of England in 1807.
In her Life of Charlotte Brontë, regarded as a classic Victorian biography, Gaskell issued a searing indictment of the Reverend's relationship with his children, writing that he viewed "their frequent appearance as a drag both on his wife's strength, and as interruption to the comfort of the household".
As well as his fits of temper – during which he burned his children's boots, shredded his wife's gown and fired a gun out the kitchen door – Mr Brontë would also make his daughters wear masks while he questioned them about moral issues, which he insisted would "make them speak with less timidity".
His damaged reputation was not repaired until 2005 when a collection of his letters was published. Last year Dudley Green, a former chairman of the Brontë Society, wrote a sympathetic biography portraying him as "an able and faithful clergyman" who cared deeply about his children.
Chris Ewbank, from the auctioneers Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers, said he expects the photo to generate a lot of interest among individual collectors familiar with the work of the Brontë sisters. (Chris Green)

We are really very sorry to hear that the Brontë Society can't afford to bid for the picture. Perhaps a charitable soul will buy it for them? If not, we hope whoever carries it home treats it very, very carefully and lovingly.

The picture - or a fragment of it - by the way was reproduced in an old postcard. And we know we have also seen it somewhere else, but can't remember exactly where at the moment.

Categories: Brontëana, In the News, Patrick Brontë