BrontëBlog at... Elizabeth Gaskell's house

Her own house is an apt sign of the unfair neglect suffered by Elizabeth Gaskell during many decades. It's sad that for such a long time it seemed to have been just one more house in what's still today a suburban neighbourhood, with even locals ignorant of the fact that an important - albeit also unknown - writer had lived there, as seen in the testimonies read in one of the upstairs rooms of the house.

But as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. And just like Elizabeth Gaskell's work is now enjoying well-deserved recognition, her home is now cherished as it should have been ever since her daughters died. The opposite seems to have happened during the intervening years during which the house was even painted in a ludicrous pink colour.

Fortunately, the house has now been restored to its pleasant original light yellow and it's a treat to visit. The voluntary staff are all welcoming, helpful and knowledgeable, and they truly go out of their way to help visitors in any way they possibly can. We visited over the Easter holidays and there were activities planned for little ones, such as an Easter egg hunt and a workshop.

Stepping inside through the front door is quite thrilling in itself: So many Victorian celebrities crossed the same threshold!

The first room to see is the morning room, in which there's an information screen and also the lovely portrait of Elizabeth Gaskell's daughters when small. A glass cabinet holds several items which are extremely touching because of their simplicity: a doll, a couple of miniatures of Elizabeth Gaskell herself, some clothing items and her wedding veil. In another room there's her wallet, with her own name embossed on it. We were truly amazed to see that these objects had, for over a century, been kept in private hands which had known to cherish them properly.

Then there's William Gaskell's study, which is a bibliophile's delight with its floor-to-ceiling bookcases.

And then come the pièces de résistance: the drawing room and the dining room. The drawing room, of which there's a picture showing how it looked when the Gaskells lived there, is such a lovely room. The tea things are ready and you actually feel like sitting down while Elizabeth Gaskell pours you tea and mesmerises you with her great storytelling. It was also fun to imagine Charlotte Brontë hiding behind the curtains.

The dining room is, surprisingly, where Elizabeth Gaskell kept her writing desk. whichwas actually just a round table. The desk is placed right in front of the window, thus catching all the light and looking onto the garden. While you look around the desk, full of all the writing paraphernalia needed for writing in the 19th century, there's a recording of a pen scratching the paper while writing which helps create the right atmosphere. Excuse us, however, while we have a 'Room of One's Own' moment, though. While we wouldn't dream of taking William Gaskell's study away from him (he did need it for work and visits), we were pretty amazed to see that this great writer from the 19th-century made do with a simple round table. Servants would have been frequently around, setting the dining table, cleaning, etc. No wonder she once said that, 'the interruptions of home life are never ending'.

The rest of the room is a regular Victorian dining room, with a huge table which made true many of those 'imaginary dinner parties' many people fantasise about nowadays. Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens and many others sat there. The Gaskell's silver is on display there too, which again amazed us by the sheer fact of still existing.

After the dining room, the visit continues upstairs, via the staircase, which also brought to mind the many household names which once went up and down it. The upstairs rooms, which would have been the bedrooms in the Gaskells' time, haven't yet been re-created, though there are plans afoot for turning one of them into a master bedroom, with a cradle and all. However, they are well worth a visit, and not just for the fact of what they were. They are now used for explaining what the house has gone through: its past, what happened after the last of the Gaskells' daughters died, as well as telling the fascinating process of renovation. Impressively, while carrying out the works on the house, they came across things that may date from the Gaskells' time.

Then there's the basement, which would have been the servants' territory. Even if we didn't know how kind Elizabeth Gaskell was to servants, this area of the house would show it: it is an airy, luminous basement, which is now home to a lovely tea room-cum-secondhand bookshop as well as a workshop area.

Finally, there's the garden, which we couldn't truly enjoy as it was a rainy day, but which looked lovely and well-kept. During our visit, we saw a good many volunteers braving the rain and working in it. Dotted around the garden, there are stones with inscriptions about the house and garden, one of which is by Charlotte Brontë herself.

And then, the visit was over and we were sincerely sad to leave. There's something touching and moving throughout the whole visit. We don't believe in ghosts or anything, so we think it's all down to Elizabeth Gaskell herself, a lovely house and hard work on the part of the staff and the people who have made it what it is, but the house doesn't feel at all empty or museum-like. Throughout it all, you have the feeling of being inside a home, and not just any home, but one that used to belong to Elizabeth Gaskell, one of the best hostesses in Victorian times. Even after all these years, she still is.

Here's a link to a virtual tour of the house.

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Mansions in the Sky

So where he reigns in glory bright,
Above those starry skies of night,
Amid his paradise of light
Oh, why may I not be?

Oft when awake on Christmas morn,
In sleepless twilight laid forlorn,
Strange thoughts have o'er my mind been borne,
How He has died for me.

And oft within my chamber lying,
Have I awaked myself with crying
From dreams, where I beheld Him dying
Upon the accursed Tree.

And often has my mother said,
While on her lap I laid my head,
She feared for time I was not made,
But for Eternity.

So "I can read my title clear,
To mansions in the skies,
And let me bid farewell to fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes."

I'll lay me down on this marble stone,
And set the world aside,
To see upon her ebon throne
The Moon in glory ride.  
Branwell Brontë, August 13, 1836

These stanzas are the fragments included by Elizabeth Gaskell in her Life of Charlotte Brontë from a poem known as The Struggles of Flesh and Spirit by Branwell Brontë which he sent to William Wordsworth in his famous letter of 1837. He never received a reply from the Lake District but the poem and the letter are now at the very core of the Brontë Parsonage Museum exhibition celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Branwell Brontë.

The tragic figure of the Brontë brother has been much vilified and occasionally vindicated by his contemporaries (like J.B. Leyland or Francis Grundy) or modern biographical revisionism (Winnifred Gérin or Daphne DuMaurier's biographies). Not always his vindication has been in his best interest such as the times when he is attributed the writing of Wuthering Heights. These comments have worked towards creating the image of Branwell, the delusional fool rather than Branwell, the misunderstood genius.

Still under the influence of Sally Wainwright's To Walk Invisible production (which in a way has fixed an image of Branwell as a kind of tragic Deus ex-machina of the work of her sisters), the Brontë Parsonage has devoted this year's exhibition to not exactly vindicating Branwell Brontë but trying to restore his presence (achievements and delusions alike) in the Brontë canon. This is achieved through recreating Branwell's room in the Parsonage and by highlighting signifying Branwell items from the Parsonage collection.

Simon Armitage, a Yorkshire poet like Branwell, is the creative partner of the exhibition. He has curated several objects of the Parsonage collection and explores his personal response to the items through a series of poems which will be published shortly but that can already be read at the exhibition.

The recreation of Branwell's room in the late 1830s is particularly convincing. Grant Montgomery, production designer of To Walk Invisible and Simon Armitage have completely contributed to the recreate the ominous and dense atmosphere of the room and redesigned Branwell's Studio (the room that connects the original Parsonage with the Exhibition Room). An unmade bed, a bottle of ink (or maybe liquor?) is spilt on the floor. Poems in different stages of composition everywhere, a wide selection of Branwell's drawings (including his famous self-portrait) hang on the wall, a letter to J.B. Leyland, etc... The dim illumination and a reading of the poem sent to Wordsworth on loop as read by young students from Beckfoot Oakbank School. The room's chaos is particularly striking when compared when the neatness of the rest of the rooms, which is significant in more ways than one.

The rest of the exhibition is downstairs at the Bonnell Room. Eleven objects selected from the Brontë Parsonage collection and the Wordsworth letter (on loan from the Wordsworth Trust, only until August) are on display beside original poems-response by Simon Armitage⁽¹⁾. The walls of the room are a festival of reddish and bluish reproductions of manuscripts and drawings by Branwell. Oppressive but seducing at the same time and rather psychedelic, too.

Some of the items include the manuscript of The Politics of Verdopolis (1833) with the sketch of a tall building which has been used as the image of the exhibition; the 1840 Branwell caricature self-portrait (we loved the companion Self Portrait poem by Simon Armitage, by the way); a very curious masonic apron allegedly decorated by Branwell; a selection of manuscripts of poems by Branwell, including Lydia Gisborne (1846), all signed by Northangerland; the watercolour Gos Hawk (after Bewick's History of British Birds) with a very funny companion poem by Armitage; the 1833 manuscript of the newspaper The Monthly Intelligencer with its impressive minute writing and convincing imitation of a real newspaper; his wallet; the very fascinating Luddenden Foot notebook; The History and Adventures of Little Henry (1810), a paperback with seven cut-out card figures which was owned by the Brontës; the very famous 1848 drawing by Branwell depicting him summoned by Death.

The Branwell exhibition is complemented by an assorted selection of costumes worn in To Walk Invisible (designed by Tom Pye) distributed around the various rooms of the Parsonage. A selection of props, replicas and reproductions of manuscripts (including a copy of the original screenplay signed by the writer and actors) can be seen in the Exhibition Room. Finally, in the space between the Bonnell Room and the shop, a selection of beautiful stills by photographer Michael Prince documenting the production process: building the Parsonage replica or script reading by the actors.

This busy season at the Brontë Parsonage also includes Clare Twomey's project Wuthering Heights: A Manuscript, which we were told has had such an incredible reception that hours have had to be set in order to avoid finishing this 18-month-long project in a matter of a few weeks. We were lucky enough to take part in it.

The museum was bursting with visitors - crowded as we had never seen it before - and it was a delight to see. It's certainly a good time to visit: as a member of the staff told us, 'the parsonage has never looked better'.

Notes

(1) Including references to Paul Pogba's record fee, Facebook, coke, condoms and Branwell photo-bombing 

those darlings bitches witches sisters

in the Pillar portrait....

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At the Charlotte Brontë. An Independent Will exhibition at the Morgan Library in New York

The last exhibition to celebrate the Charlotte Brontë 2016 bicentenary was the one held at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. It took place from September 2016 to a few days ago in January 2017. After the exhibitions at the Brontë Parsonage Museum (BPM), the John Soane Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London it would seem that the Morgan Library would only be able to put together some of the usual Brontëana seen at the NPG (with the addition of some pieces on loan from the BPM to the afore-mentioned London exhibitions) to indulge American Brontëites: the Pillar Portrait, the Richmond portrait, the Jane Eyre manuscript (normally on display at the British Library) all crossed the Atlantic for the first time. And extraordinary (and certainly a once-in-a-lifetime event) as it is, but it is not the whole story.

Because Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will is much more than that thanks to the amazing collection of Brontë literary manuscripts, letters and rare printed books held at the Morgan Library which serves to contextualise and give depth to much of the exhibition⁽¹⁾. BrontëBlog visited the exhibition the last week of 2016 and we were happily surprised by what we saw there. In fact, for us, the Morgan was THE Charlotte Brontë bicentenary exhibition. Charlotte Great and Small at the Parsonage was something else, a reinterpretation in a contemporary key of many of Brontë myths interlinked with real Brontëana. And the NPG one was, in fact, a subset of what we could find at the Morgan Library. 

Charlotte Brontë. An Independent Will was located at the Engelhard Gallery on the second floor. The walls were painted in a blue hue, probably matching the blueish colour of Charlotte Brontë's day dress which stands at the entrance of the exhibition and which had previously presided over the exhibition at the John Soane Museum. The phrase at the entry is as strong as it is simple:

“To you I am neither man nor woman. I come before you as an author only. It is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me--the sole ground on which I accept your judgment.”⁽²⁾

The exhibition follows a chronological order and begins with Home. A couple of postcards help to fix the image of the isolated Parsonage in the middle of nowhere later immortalised by Elizabeth Gaskell in her biography. Two items also connect Charlotte's fiction (in Jane Eyre) with her own infancy: a letter from Charlotte to Williams Smith Williams (WSW) confessing that Helen Burns was based on her sister Maria who died soon after leaving Cowan Bridge School, administered by the Rev Carus Wilson. And the second item is an 1857 pamphlet by Rev Robert Morphet vindicating his figure after the publication of Mrs Gaskell's biography. Other items, belonging to the Morgan collection that could be seen in this section included Patrick Brontë's book of prayer and manuscripts of some of his sermons.
providing a place and time for Charlotte Brontë:

The second section of the exhibition: Imagination, establishes the coordinates of the fictional universe(s) where the young Brontës lived, created and forged their mature writings. Manuscripts, some of them on loan from the BPM (like the charming There once was a little girl and her name was Ane (sic), 1828), some others from the Morgan collection (The Bridal, 1832; The Poetaster, Vol 2 (1830); the fascinating Catalogue of My Books with the Periods of Their Completion until August 3, 1830; or the stunning manuscript where The Vision poem is included among other poems and prose⁽³⁾. Drawings, many of them on loan from the BPM but some others coming from the Morgan collection. Objects so intimate as the sisters' copies of the hymns of Isaac Watts and the Psalms of David and the devotional book owned by Charlotte and inscribed by her mother, Maria--one of the few tangible connections with her she ever had.

The third section is the territory of her Work as a teacher, governess or as a student in Brussels, trying to acquire the necessary skills to establish a school of their own. Highlights here are, without a doubt, the passionate, highly erotic confession in the so-called Roe Head diary (again, part of the Morgan collection), letters to Ellen Nussey describing her miserable life as a governess. Her copy of J.C. Russell's General Atlas of Modern Geography, in which a sketch probably drawn by Charlotte was identified recently by Claire Harman as a possible self-portrait. Some of her notebooks with devoirs for M. Heger in her Brussels years can also be seen, The selection is completed with more mature drawings, many of them coming from the BPM.

The fourth section is the one devoted to Writing and here you could find the big names of the exhibition: the manuscript of Jane Eyre (opened on the page of the An Independent Will phrase, of course), the Pillar portrait and the George Richmond portrait of Charlotte Brontë. But there was much more: her portable writing desk and paintbox (both on loan from the BPM), the manuscript of the unfinished novel Ashworth, a fair copy manuscript of The Professor, poetry notebooks belonging to Charlotte and Anne Brontë, and manuscript poems by Emily Brontë...  And some personal highlights: two letters from Charlotte to WSW: in the first one she describes her visit to London with Anne in which they met him and Charlotte's publisher George Smith and in the second one there's the motto of the exhibition which we have quoted at the beginning of this review. And a personal favourite: the copy of Jane Eyre owned by Mary Taylor and her letter (one of the few surviving ones) to Charlotte expressing her surprise and amazement after reading her old friend's novel.

The final section, Legacy, is a bittersweet one. There are the letters to WSW communicating Branwell's death, Anne's decline. The Brontë-Nicholls marriage license is on display (and with it the hope of a bright future), Patrick Brontë's handwritten copy of the registry of Charlotte's marriage, the final will and testament of Charlotte, a letter to Ellen Nussey where Charlotte thanked her for agreeing to destroy her letters to her (Ellen ignored this as it is well known)⁽⁴⁾. A silently tragic little letter by Patrick scattering away tiny pieces of Charlotte's handwriting to admirers.

We have tried to be exhaustive, but we have skipped things and we have not dedicated the necessary space to many others. So many were the items, so numerous the emotions contained in the displays, so great the experience. It was certainly the best way to conclude a very Charlotte Brontë year. As it should be.

Notes:

(1) Curiously, as far as we know, no item from the Berg collection at the New York Public Library was used, nor any other manuscript of the many more that are scattered around the US.

(2) Charlotte to William Smith Williams, 16 August 1849

(3) Branwell's manuscripts are also included, like Angria and the Angrians (1835).
(4) Arthur Bell Nicholls thought they were dangerous 'as Lucifer matches'

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At Emily's by De Luca Boutique (Brontë birthplace in Thornton)

Sitting there, sipping at a cappuccino and a deliciously prepared Earl Grey tea, we reminisced about what we knew of the Brontë birthplace in modern times. As BrontëBlog we only caught the final installment of Barbara Whitehead's 'residency' there. She used to have a website about her home, where the Brontës had been born. She showed some pictures, carried out - or tried to anyway - some restoration work and even had visitors. Then came the public auction of the place. We are not ashamed to admit that we were somewhat outraged when Thornton council didn't get the place and do something public with it. And we admit to being cautious when it was announced that a coffee shop would open. A coffee shop at the birthplace!

Then pictures of the decorations and accounts of the work carried out started trickling it and it all sounded nice and, above all, respectful. Then Emily's by DeLuca Boutique opened and it looked oh so fine from a distance. Then Brontë aficionados started going there, sharing pictures and accounts and it simply sounded like the most wonderful place.

And it is. You get to sit and move around in the space (much altered through time; after all, it once was a butcher's!) where the Brontës were born and were tiny little things. They toddled around here and most of them spoke their first words here. And you are comfortably sitting there, under the same roof,

The staff and Mark De Luca himself are all really, really nice. There are Brontë details everywhere but also different touches such as a Vespa in the hallway. And it all comes together in a wonderful atmosphere. All the positive things we had heard about the place turned out to be not enough.

This is a truly great coffee shop by itself. But it's also a truly great coffee shop with a twist for any Brontë fan. After all, it's not everywhere that the Brontës enjoy a stained glass status.

Oh, and by the way. While you are there - do visit the toilet.

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BrontëBlog at ... Brontë Parsonage Museum's Charlotte Great and Small Exhibition

Tiny things that recall confinement and restrain against big ideas suggesting freedom. Mundane, ordinary things which become strangely appealing and bizarre in their decontextualised miniaturisation and real 'small' things created or used by Charlotte Brontë vs big wishes, imperative desires transparently displayed in big fashionable lettering vinyls.

This is mainly the idea behind Charlotte Brontë. Big and Small, the 200th anniversary Brontë Parsonage exhibition, curated by Tracy Chevalier. The contrast between Big Ideas and Small Everyday Life is a simple--naïve in a way--visual metaphor for the achievements and misfortunes of Charlotte Brontë's own personal and literary life. The selection of items from the Brontë Parsonage collection and some new works by contemporary artists negotiate these Great and Small narratives hoping to, in the unavoidable collision, find the elusive key to apprehend Charlotte Brontë's mystery. It's remarkable, and a sign of greatness, that a few years ago, Cornelia Parker in her Brontëan Abstracts worked from almost the opposite perspective to achieve similar results. Amplifying the everyday Brontë items in order to have a fleeting glimpse of something left unconsciously which could illuminate the Brontë enigma.

The first glimpse into the exhibition can be seen in Charlotte Brontë's room: a collection of miniaturised 'personal'accessories belonging to Charlotte and all connected to a Brontë life story created by Serena Partridge, like children's boots, a nightcap, embroidered gloves, a pocket handkerchief, stockings and mourning shoes. A disturbing display which is featured in a showcase that is not different from the other 'real' (and also tiny in their own way) objects in the room. Serena Partidge's creations can for a moment be taken for real relics until the visitor realises their wrong dimensions and the details that are carefully embedded in them, full of Charlotte Brontë stories. Particularly memorable are the nightcap with embroidered constellations made with glow in the dark thread and the mourning shoes thread with the hair of members of the Parsonage staff plus Tracy Chevalier herself, making plainly physical the continuity of the legacy of the Brontës through the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Next to Charlotte's room, the so-called Children's Study has changed its display. Usually visitors cannot enter this room but now they are encouraged to do so and see, unmake and make again Tamar Stone's Brontë Bed. The bed has a Charlotte Brontë quilt (designed and quilted by Tracy Chevalier herself. In the upcoming other bicentenaries there will also be Branwell, Emily and Anne quilts), blankets, sheets, mattress... all of them embroidered with quotes taken from their letters, diary entries, poems and novels. Even John Greenwood's diary as quoted by Juliet Barker! Probably this is the object that symbolises the exhibition great-small thesis more compactly.

The other items of the exhibition are located in the Bonnell Room, dominated by quotes on the walls, particularly the poor-obscure-plain-little and the wish-for-wings ones in shocking dialogue with several items from the Brontë Parsonage collection epitomising this idea of smallness: physical objects such as evening shoes, gloves, bodice; Charlotte's creations: little books, tiny embroidery, minute drawings, watercolours; small samples of hair (from the whole of the Brontë family), of fabric used in her dresses... and the highlight of the exhibition, on loan from the British Library, a heartbreaking letter from January 8, 1845 from Charlotte Brontë to Monsieur Heger, which was torn into pieces and later sewn together.

The exhibition continues in the last room before the shop (the Contemporary Art Space) where a contemporary answer to the Brontë-Heger letters: A Correspondence by Ligia Bouton can be found. An installation that works as a commentary to the Brontë-Heger epistolary relationship from a symbolic point of view (that nevertheless renegades from coldness and embraces physicality through its embroidered textures) but doesn't fit that well with the general narrative of the exhibition.

The final item is probably the most publicised of the exhibition, the knitted scene from Chapter XV of Jane Eyre in which Bertha sets Rochester's bed on fire and Jane saves him by throwing water into the bed. Signed by Denise Salway, The Knitting Witch is a perfectly fitting end to the exhibition. It embraces both Great (Jane Eyre as her great outcome and her call to eternal greatness) and Small as it is, but full of extraordinary detail.

You can still see it until the end of the year. If you have the chance of a trip to Haworth, don't doubt it, the greatness (and smallness) of Charlotte is worth a visit.

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At the Celebrating Charlotte Brontë exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

Celebrating Charlotte Brontë 1816-2016
National Portrait Gallery
22 February - 14 August 2016
Room 24

Once, many years ago (ie. 2006), we were lucky enough to see George Richmond's portrait of Charlotte Brontë in private. It's such a delicate piece of art that it's usually kept in the proper kind of storage. This year, however, it is the central piece at the celebration of Charlotte Brontë's bicentenary at the National Portrait Gallery in London, so it's a great opportunity to see the portrait face-to-face, so to speak. Our Charlotte is in good company too as by her side are two portraits by George Richmond of two of her friends: Elizabeth Gaskell and Harriet Martineau (now both have a chance to finally patch up their friendship at last).

Also at the core of the exhibition is the Pillar Portrait (which, together with Emily's fragment of the Gun Portrait, is always on display at the NPG). The National Portrait Gallery had previously announced that they would reveal the secrets of the Pillar Portrait (as far as modern techniques are concerned) at this exhibition. All evidence seems to point to the fact that - contrary to previous analysis- the pillar hiding Branwell was made by him at the time of painting the portrait, which is otherwise left unfinished in some areas too.

Infrared photography shows Branwell Brontë made an underdrawing in a carbon medium in loose, freehand lines.
Ultra violet light shows more lead white and flesh paint on the figure of Charlotte, which has been modelled and completed to a greater degree, suggesting that the canvas was never finished, and some areas, including the lower half of the canvas, are unresolved.
Paint sampling has confirmed that the figure of Branwell was sketched in an early stage of the painting, and never completed. It was painted out with a pillar at a similar tiem, by the artist himself. The most likely reason was that he considered the four figure composition too cramped. This disproves early speculation that Charlotte had obscured the figure of her brother at a later date.

Celebrating Charlotte Brontë (22 February - 14 August 2016) can be found in Room 24 at the National Portrait Gallery. It's a small exhibition which, however, manages to cover Charlotte's life. She's accompanied there by her heroes: the Duke of Wellington, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott. And when it comes to her literary fame, three men are there as well: first and foremost, a touching canvas of an elderly George Smith which we had personally never seen before and which we found strangely moving and tender. W.M. Thackeray is there as well as is a marble bust of Robert Southey. The latter we would have placed among her heroes, but he played no role when it came to her fame. He did the opposite, if anything.

As mentioned above, Harriet Martineau and Elizabeth Gaskell are there too as is a small sketch of G.H. Lewes. Interestingly, though, the text by the sketch doesn't mention the fact that Charlotte found him really similar to Emily Brontë in looks.

But Charlotte's private life is well-represented as well: her family, her own drawings, her early writings and drawings, her job as a governess, her time in Brussels, her letters, her family tragedies, her marriage and one of her final letters - barely legible and incredibly touching to see - are all there. Even a pair of her shoes are there!

To no one's surprise, we could have stayed in Room 24 for a long, long time, lost in this celebration of Charlotte's life which we think she would have mostly loved. A fitting, moving tribute for a great author's bicentenary.

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At the ... Charlotte Brontë at the Soane Exhibition

Charlotte Brontë at the Soane
15 Mar 2016 to 07 May 2016
Sir John Soane's Museum
13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP

The relation of the artist and writer Charlotte Cory to the Brontës is intense. In 2002 she penned for Radio 4 a radio play, The Day I Finished Charlotte Brontë, where she discussed the mysteries around the writing of the unfinished Emma. In it, Charlotte Cory imagined a mutual romantic interest between James Taylor, who worked for Smith & Co., and Charlotte Brontë. The interest became almost an obsession and Charlotte Cory visited Bombay in order to find the grave of James Taylor and then on to the final residence of Arthur Bell Nicholls in Hill House in Banagher, Ireland⁽¹⁾.

Almost ten years later, in 2013, Charlotte Cory put together Capturing the Brontës at the Brontë Parsonage Museum (and also, with obvious parallels, Visitoriana at the Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate) where she applied her 'visitorian' techniques (i.e. the use of nineteenth-century cartes-de-visite digitally manipulated to introduce anthropomorphic images reminiscent of Victorian taxidermy and surrealism).

In 2016, Charlotte Brontë's bicentenary has triggered a Cory-Brontë explosion: a couple of exhibitions, a radio play and a book: Charlotte Brontë at the Soane (15 March-7 May), Jane Eyre at the Woolff  (14 April-7 May), Charlotte Brontë in Babylon (BBC Radio 4) and A Visitorian Jane Eyre (Colville Press, 2016).

Charlotte Brontë at the Soane maintains a tight relation with Charlotte Brontë in Babylon. In her radio play for BBC Radio 4, Charlotte Cory explored the five visits of Charlotte Brontë to London (as a published author, because Charlotte already visited London before in her two trips to Brussels)⁽²⁾. Charlotte Cory tells in her introduction to the highly recommended catalogue of the Soane exhibition,  about her disappointment in finding out that Charlotte Brontë apparently never visited the John Soane Museum during any of her stays in London (although her personal London guide, which can be seen at the exhibition, fervently recommended a visit). But in the best 'never let the truth stand in the way of a good story' tradition Charlotte Cory 'imagines' a possible visit of Charlotte Brontë to John Soane's Museum. We know it didn't happen, but it could have and should have. Charlotte Brontë would have enjoyed the eccentric, jumbled but irresistible little not-so-well known gem of London museums. Charlotte Cory only provides the means for the collective image of Charlotte Brontë that we have shaped in these 200 years of Brontë cult to visit Lincoln's Inn Fields at last.

The exhibition occupies a small room of the Soane, by the gift shop. It is full of objects and information (which cannot be otherwise in a museum such as this one). Objects that 'actually' were and objects that 'could' have been or 'should' have been. Two objects (real and should-be) preside the room: the white delaine dress ('with a pattern of tiny bright blue leaves, and small tendrils, joined together with a faint line'⁽³⁾), that Charlotte Brontë wore on 12th June, 1850 to the (in)famous Thackeray dinner-party and one of the visitors' books of the Soane Museum opened by a date on which Charlotte could have visited the museum (with even a signature of the wrong George Smith!)

A desk (the desk of the missing stuff) and a couple of chairs (Visitorian Mrs Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë having a gossip) come straight from the Capturing the Brontës 2013 exhibition. The first one commemorates all the possible missing Brontë items that will never return to the Parsonage filtered and inserted in the Cory anthropomorphic/surrealist aesthetics) and is watched over by a young giraffe (who happens to symbolize George Smith) which Charlotte Cory seems to be quite proud of⁽⁴⁾.

A big map with all the locations visited by Charlotte Brontë in her London visits hangs in one of the walls of the room and inevitably compels the visiting Brontëite to create his own London tour following in the footsteps of the author of Jane Eyre. On the opposite wall, two showcases contain in excellent company the real deals and the what-ifs: Charlotte Brontë's Account Book from 1848, her own London 1851 guidebook, tantalizing doodles made by Anne Brontë in a zoological book owned by the Brontës, the Richmond portrait as seen by Charlotte Cory or as it might have been if Millais, who happened to be in that Thackeray dinner, had painted Currer Bell, a letter by Harriet Martineau...

And last but not least, La Fontaine's Fables Vol II, a gift from Thackeray to Charlotte Brontë which found its way to Arthur Bell Nicholls, whose signature figures on the inside page. This gorgeous volume is illustrated with the famous anthropomorphic illustrations by Jean Isidore Gérard Grandville, which fittingly connect with the visitorian techniques of Charlotte Cory.

A little gem in this hidden gem that is the Soane itself.  The Italians have a lovely way of putting it: Si non è vero, è ben trovato... In the American West, they simply say, print the legend⁽⁵⁾.

Notes

(1) Charlotte Cory, In search of a lost classic, The Guardian, July 4, 2002.
(2) The first time with Emily Brontë and their father. The second time she travelled alone but only spent a night in her ship in London on her way to Brussels.
(3) Ellis H. Chadwick, In the Footsteps of the Brontës, 1914 p.398
(4) The News Hub, March 22, 2016. Charlotte Brontë at The Soane And In Babylon. In Conversation With Show Curator And Charlotte Bronte In Babylon Writer, Charlotte Cory.

Q What are you hoping visitors will remember from this exhibition?
A The stuffed giraffe. the desk full of missing Brontë items.

(5) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Directed by John Ford. 

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Jane Eyre at the National Theatre. A Review

Jane Eyre
devised by the Company
based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë
A co-production with Bristol Old Vic

Directed by Sally Cookson
With Madeleine Worrall, Felix Hayes, Laura Elphinstone, Melanie Marshall, Benji Bowers, Craig Edwards.

December 28, 2015.

One of the highlights of the London theatre 2015 season has been, undoubtedly, the Jane Eyre adaptation at the National Theatre. Originally devised in two parts by the Bristol Old Vic company, it was revamped and abridged into an easy-to-schedule tree-hour version for its London premiere under the direction of one of the latest wonder girls of the English stage, Sally Cookson. Her method of work is based on work with the actors not only on how to act or deliver the text but also in the creation of the text itself and the stage movements. Jane Eyre is no exception and therefore the text of the adaptation is not signed by a particular author, even if Cookson is less a participant and more the alma mater, but devised by the Company.

The Cookson method is directly related to the many good moments but also to the few failures of the production. Is quite evident that the energy of the performances, the commitment and blind-faith on the text by the actors and the communication that the company establishes with the audience owes its origins to the development of the text and the rehearsals. But it is also true that being the fruit of several minds and perspectives, the adaptation lacks in critical cohesion, taking elements from the madwoman-in-the-attic interpretation of Bertha as Jane's double (a few years ago the Shared Experience Company performed Polly Teale's version of Jane Eyre with this idea at its centre), the Gothic imagery, some Brechtian subtle humour (or not so subtle, i.e. the Pilot, played by Craig Edwards; an idea, by the way, already present in the Shared Experience production) mixed with a musical commentary in the very limit of the sublime and the self-parody... But if there is some articulating idea in the whole adaptation then that is probably the feminist reading. Even to the extreme of betraying the original text (in a play that respects in a great measure the original dialogues) in order to achieve a sort of feminist symmetry between the beginning and the end of the play. No traces, though, of any race or postcolonial comment besides the obvious casting of Melanie Marshall as Bertha.

The (critical) dispersion in the proposal is epithomised by the presence of Bertha Mason (Melanie Marshall) commenting on the narrative with a sweet mezzo soprano voice that has an undeniable theatrical effectiveness (as the whole eclectic musical selection by Benji Bowers) unifying the theatre experience to the point that the play can be described as a musical without songs. But her appearance is not as solid as in the Polly Teale version as it only traces real parallels in a few occasions (such as the Red Room moment) and in some occasions (like the Mad About the Boy song) it is not developed enough to be a pertinent comment and stays mainly as an almost humorous side comment.

Nevertheless, all these flaws are eclipsed by the electric performances of the cast. A magnetic and intense Madeleine Worrall creates a sturdy, honest, vulnerable but strong-minded Jane Eyre. Felix Hayes is a moody but adequately sardonic Rochester (with an unforgettable whisky-and-cigarettes voice, the unnatural mixing of Barry White and Tom Waits). The rest of the cast is also solid in their different and more episodic roles.

The theatrical rhythm is flawless. The action progresses without pauses and the transitions are always imaginative. Special attention is given to the Gateshead Hall and Lowood scenes, not forgeting that the formation years of Jane Eyre are full of vital experiences needed to understand how Jane behaves later in her life. Moments of intense beauty are achieved with minimal elements: the windows in Lowood and in Thornfield Hall and the intense urge to see beyond them, the wedding veil floating around the stage in an unreal and ethereal way as, in a certain way, is Jane's promise of a wedding. Michael Vale's scenography is delightfully simple but full of possibilites in its abstraction.

As the characters transition from one place to another literally running, the audience is driven by the company in a virtually irresistible trip. A semi standing ovation at the end of the performance and the comments overheard on the lobby clearly prove it.

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At the Berg Collection, New York Public Library

A few months ago BrontëBlog travelled to New York. The city's sightseeing offer is immense, but we felt that a visit to the New York Public Library, particularly to the Berg Collection was a must for us. And right we were.

The Berg Collection started when the brothers Henry W. Berg and Albert A. Berg approached the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library to propose donating their private collections, which were made up of literary rarities, mainly of the printed sort, but also of some manuscripts. So at the point when in 1940 Albert - Henry had sadly passed away since the negotiations began - and the Board of Trustees reached an agreement, the collection only included a watercolour by Charlotte Brontë.

Later, however, through the acquisition of several other private libraries, the Berg Collection acquired more and more Brontëana.

This - and more - is what we were told in that cosy wood-panelled room while we had a few, amazing Brontë manuscripts in front of us. The number of Brontë manuscripts is quite large now, and so we only got a glimpse of what the collection is made up of. We saw one of the famous bound volumes containing the tiny, awe-inspiring Tales of the Islanders, the manuscript pages now embedded in bigger pages. Two handwritten poems by Charlotte Brontë - Saul and Memory - were also shown to us. And then came a small box which opened to reveal the tiny, folded paper which contains two drawings by Charlotte Brontë - The ruins of Caractacus Palace (no. 18 in The Art of the Brontës) and The Keep of the Bridge (on the right and no. 21 in The Art of the Brontës) - together with the diminutive manuscript of the story The Keep of the Bridge. It's only when you look at these tiny manuscripts and drawings that you actually realise how much they cherished their paper and how it's not at all surprising that Charlotte ruined her eyesight.

While we were admiring all this, we were being told more and more interesting facts about the Berg Collection. It turned out that Charles Dickens's writing desk was a few meters away from us. Also, the Berg Collection contains the largest collection of Virginia Woolf papers and objects in the world. And much to our awe we were promptly shown the cane that Virginia Woolf let go of when she threw herself in the waters of the river Ouse.

By the time we left, the library was closed for visitors, the corridors were empty and the chairs in Bryant Park beckoned.

This visit would not have been possible without Mr Isaac Gerwitz's kindness and patience with us. We would also like to thank the two anonymous researchers who escorted us out of the library premises.

Categories: Brontëana, Messages from BB

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At the Brontë Parsonage Museum Library

BrontëBlog was recently in Haworth. That is always a celebrated event per se but this time around there was even more to it: BrontëBlog had an appointment with Collections' Manager Ann Dinsdale to go into the sanctum sanctorum that is the Brontë Parsonage Museum Library.

Prior to that, however, we managed to sneak into an introduction to the Brontës given by Sue Newman down in the cellar. Not to sound pretentious but we knew the subject of the talk pretty well - what really interested us was to take a look at the cellar, which is rarely open to the public.

After that, we took the usual - but always different - tour around the house. This year's exhibition, as you know, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the publication of Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë. By the time we got there the manuscript, which was on loan from the Manchester University Library, should have gone back to its home but thanks to a delay we were lucky enough to see it and to be surprised at the fact that most of the sheets were light blue (and the writing quite messy).

Downstairs and towards the end of the tour we were delighted to see the hair samples of all the siblings, including Maria and Elizabeth, and not so happy - though morbidly interested - to see Anne's blood-stained handkerchief.

And then it was time to go out into the museum shop and refrain from buying something else yet once again while waiting to meet Ann Dinsdale.

Our time at the library flew by. We conversed animatedly with Ann while she showed us round a room crowded with Brontë books: all sorts of approaches, all sorts of theories, all sorts of topics ever written on, or pertaining to, the Brontës were to be found there. Naturally, we were in awe of it all.

Ann showed us item after curious item: a well-thumbed facsimile of Patrick's medicine book, stills from Brontë movies, scripts, bodice-ripper sequels to Wuthering Heights, taking our conversation in all sorts of directions and barely allowing us time to catch our breath.

When we finally sat down it was to a table which had a covered tray on top. Ann put on her gloves and took our breath away by showing us - with no glass in between, the most recent acquisitions. We were reading a letter by Charlotte nearly as the the original recipient would have done. Amazing. We then discussed the restoration process the letters would have to undergo and Ann confessed to not wanting to even think about it as the letters are apparently plunged into liquids, etc.

After what seemed like a few minutes but were in fact a few hours we finally left (although we have gladly stayed there forever, and wouldn't have lacked reading matter). We said goodbye to Ann at the shop but before we walked out of the door we, er, yes, bought something else yet again.

We would like to thank Ann Dinsdale and Sarah Barrett for their time and kindness.
(Picture source)

Categories: Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontëana, Messages from BB

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At the National Portrait Gallery

BrontëBlog was recently in London and wallowed in some Brontë goodness. Out of the regular schedule was seeing Polly Teale's Jane Eyre on stage at Trafalgar Studio 1. We enjoyed it immensely and can't hide our deep admiration for Monica Dolan's outstanding interpretation of Jane Eyre.

The regular sites included the compulsory visit to the British Library to see the manuscript of Jane Eyre, a stroll around the much-changed Paternoster Row area in Saint Paul's cathedral shadow, a walk up and down Cornhill where Smith, Elder & Co used to have their premises at the time Charlotte went there and, most definitely, a trip to the National Portrait Gallery.

On public display are both Branwell's portraits: the Pillar Portrait and Emily's Portrait from the Gun Portrait. And so there we stood in awe for a while until it was time to go and meet Juliet - the Collection Assistant - for a very special appointment.

Charlotte Brontë's famous portrait by Richmond - the one which made her cry because it reminded her so of her sister Anne, the one Patrick found so true to life, the one Mary Taylor didn't find true to life at all - is too delicate and frail to be on display and it's kept very carefully in a well-equiped storage room.

Juliet kindly provided us with a few sheets full of information on the portrait before she took out the portrait out for us to see. We are perfectly aware that it is a beautified portrait but we also felt that this was as closely as it got to looking Charlotte Brontë in the face. It might sound a tad too sentimental but there are simply no words to describe that moment. Charlotte's much-commended eyes seemed so full of life now we looked at the portrait face to face and not on a computer screen or a catalogue or a poster. The whole portrait suddenly took on a whole new dimension.

After a few quiet moments, Juliet enlightened us on what we knew virtually nothing about: the afterlife of bthe portrait, its complicated restorations, etc. Everything she said was really interesting but one of the things that surprised us most was when she explained how the paper was originially pure white and the yellow backgroud we see nowadays is nothing but age showing. Thus, the white touches on the forehead, neck and collar weren't nearly as visible as they are today.

When we left, Juliet said goodbye to the happiest of Brontëites.

A big thank-you to Juliet for her time and kindness and to Tim, the Collections Manager who organised our visit but couldn't finally be there.

Categories: Brontëana, Messages from BB

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