Ahead of Her Time Indeed. Alternative Facts in the Making

This is something that is going on in New York and, frankly, it's a bit embarrassing. The Roviland+Voena Gallery in New York is presenting an exhibition with the name Ahead of Her Time:

Pioneering Women from the Renaissance to the Twentieth Century

Ahead of her Time

5 December 2023 - 10 February 2024

R+V, New York

The exhibition brings together works by over twenty female artists, spanning five centuries. In addition, the exhibition includes artworks depicting, and objects owned by, notable women from artistic and intellectual spheres.

Many of the paintings and artworks have not been seen in public for decades, and the exhibition has brought to light discoveries, including an unpublished painting by Artemisia Gentileschi and exciting new attributions.

Arguably one of the exciting new attributions is this painting:

Portrait of Emily and Anne Brontë

by Patrick Branwell Brontë

c. 1838

Oil on canvas

41.9 x 36.8 cm (16 1/2 x 14 1/2 in.)

Which is quite an attribution. Let us remind you that neither the Brontë Society nor any other serious Brontë scholar has made such a reckless attribution.  The painting they assume has a distinct resemblance to Branwell Brontë's style, portraying Emily and Anne Brontë. The artwork's creation is tentatively placed in the early months of 1838. The figures, depicted in their late teens or early twenties, are adorned in outdated attire, possibly in line with Elizabeth Gaskell's account. 

However, let us repeat once more that the painting's attribution to Branwell Brontë and the identity of the sitters remain, to put it mildly, a subject of debate, And that's something that the website blatantly and deliberately chooses to hide and ignore. That's not okay.