Degas abutting Brontë

The Telegraph features the 'new' portrait of 'Emily Brontë', to be auctioned tomorrow:

The oil painting is the latest in a flurry of items relating to the Brontë sisters to be put up for auction in the last few months.
Its sale by JP Humbert's in Northamptonshire comes after the auction house sold another painting of the reclusive writer for £23,836 in December.
Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert said the 33 by 24cm (13 x 9.5 ins) painting has already attracted international interest after the previous sale - which originally had a guide price of £10,000-£15,000.
The second painting, which is annotated "Emily Jane Brontë", was originally estimated to fetch around £3,000 but, after growing interest, now has an estimate of £5,000-£8,000 for its sale on Thursday.
Mr Humbert said: "This painting is softer and less formal than the previous 'Bonnet Portrait' and importantly, the artist has entitled the painting 'Emily Jane Brontë' on the bottom left hand side of the picture at the time of painting.
"Clearly the picture is mid-19th century so we can draw a sensible conclusion that Emily Brontë was quite possibly the sitter.
"One unknown portrait of Emily Bronte is luck enough but two in two months is quite remarkable.
"Sadly the signature of the artist on the lower right is barely decipherable.
"We are certainly offering it as a painting of Emily Brontë - the art world is apt to be scornful of 'undiscovered' works but a painting like this really gets people talking and debating. We have received interest already from the USA and Canada."
The painting will go under the hammer on Thursday evening at JP Humbert's saleroom in Towcester.

Abigails Ateliers discusses the 'new photograph' with special attention to the clothes:

I dont however think the costumes are correct for even Charlottes life time, the capes /mantles and the hair of the two seated ladies  seem ok  but the hair style and the  little hat on the central figure is very similare to many  from late 1850s and early 1860s  fashion plates and is unlikely to have been around earlier as hats slowly replaced bonnets in the later half of victorias reign. (read more)

And there's one more Brontë picture today: Universe Today shares this image (source) of the surface of Mercury where

The slightly larger, more eroded crater that Degas abuts is named Bronte. (Jason Major)

EDIT: (SpaceRef)

This image shows a colorful view of Bronte (the large crater in the top right corner) and Degas (the blue-hued crater atop Bronte). These craters are located in Sobkou Planitia, a plains region formed through past volcanic activity.
This image was acquired as a high-resolution targeted observation. Targeted observations are images of a small area on Mercury's surface at resolutions much higher than the 250-meter/pixel (820 feet/pixel) morphology base map or the 1-kilometer/pixel (0.6 miles/pixel) color base map. It is not possible to cover all of Mercury's surface at this high resolution during MESSENGER's one-year mission, but several areas of high scientific interest are generally imaged in this mode each week
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. Larger image
Date acquired: December 12, 2011

GoldDerby looks at the Best Costume Design Oscar nominees:

"Jane Eyre" is the second Oscar nomination for Michael O'Connor, who previously won for "The Duchess." This category often favors the largest, most ornate costumes in period epics like "Shakespeare in Love," "Marie Antoinette," and "The Young Victoria," which may benefit the ornate garb worn in this 19th century literary adaptation.

Rope of Silicon discusses the category after Madonna's W.E. carried home the Costume Designers Guild award. SF Costume Design Examiner looks at the nominees too:

Jane Eyre (Michael O’Connor):
The designer, who previously won for the Duchess, did a great job with the beautiful costumes in this movie. Representing styles from the early-to-mid-Victorian periods, the costumes are part of the atmosphere and a seamless part of the drama, but may not be able to stand out against the competition. (Jean Martin)

And TV Geek Army reviews The Brontës of Haworth DVD:

As brilliant as these books are, the lives of the Brontë family is an incredible story in of itself. The new Acorn Media two-DVD set The Brontës of Haworth presents the British five-episode mini-series in its entirety for the first time in the United States. As hard as it might be to believe, this 1973 mini-series never aired on Masterpiece Theater, or any other television outlet for that matter in all this time.
It has certainly been our loss. The Brits excel at this type of “costume drama,” and the tale is incredible. The five episodes are “The Little King,” “Home and Abroad,” “Delusion’s Song,” “Rewarding Destiny,” and “Silent Is the House.” All were written by acclaimed poet and playwright Christopher Fry. The Brontës of Haworth also happens to be one of Michael Kitchen’s very early roles.
Kitchen portrays the male brother Branwell, who has difficulty in adapting to life outside of the close-knit family. The Brontë family patriarch is the Reverend Patrick Brontë. Besides Branwell, and the famous Emily and Charlotte, the family also includes sister Anne, and of course their mother, Maria. The loss of Maria at the young age of 38 was the first serious blow the family suffered.
There was much more to come. In fact, one could argue that the term “gothic” was invented to describe this family. The main bonus feature is a fascinating piece about the Brontë’s home in Haworth, which is now the Brontë Parsonage Museum - and attracts thousands of visitors each year. The Brontës of Haworth is an excellent set, and recommended for fans of the Brontës, not to mention those who enjoy timeless British television. (Greg Barbrick)

Chicagoist reviews Margot Livesey's The Flight of Gemma Hardy and announce a q & A with the author:

Most authors would shy away from re-telling, or even writing a book resembling, a classic novel. The majority of the books that were on our high school and college reading lists remain untouched (unless you count several spins we've witnessed recently). When 2012 began, however, Scottish author Margot Livesey unleashed her bold re-visualization of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Come next Tuesday, in the friendly space of Women & Children First, we'll get to hear the author tell us all about it. [...]
Margot Livesey will do a reading and conduct a Q&A on February 28 at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Women & Children First Bookstore is located at 5233 N. Clark Street. (Maggie Hellwig)

Professor and writer Swati Avasthi seems to be a Brontëite, at least according to ABC Newspapers:

For classics, she especially likes to read Emily Brontë. (Elyse Kaner)

The Brussels Brontë Blog posts about a recent event organised by the group. Modern Brontës has a new post. Jane Eyre is reviewed by Read, Write, Leave and Coriander Sea.