The Brontë Family, with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 1 of 2Leyland, Francis A.
History
The Brontë Family, with special reference to Patrick Branwell Brontë. Vol. 1 of 2
Leyland, Francis A.
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Brontë family; Brontë, Patrick Branwell, 1817-1848
pen-and-ink with much facility, humour, and originality. His
productions, in this manner, will be more particularly noticed in the
course of this work. Charlotte's drawings were said to be
pre-Raphaelite in detail, but they had no approach to the spirit of
that school; and Branwell's pictures, however meritorious they might be
as likenesses of the individuals they represented, lacked, in every
instance, that artistic touch which the hand of genius always gives,
and cannot help giving. While at school at Roe Head, Charlotte had been
noticed by her fellow-pupils to draw better and more quickly than they
had before seen anyone do, and we have been told by one of them that
'she picked up every scrap of information concerning painting,
sculpture, poetry, music, &c., as if it were gold.' The list she drew
up a year or two earlier of the great artists whose works she wished to
see, shows us that her interest in art, even in her thirteenth year,
led her to read of them and their productions.
On her return home in 1832, Charlotte wrote on the 21st July respecting
her course of life at the parsonage: 'In the morning, from nine o'clock
till half-past twelve, I instruct my sisters, and draw; then we walk
till dinner-time. After dinner I sew till tea-time, and after tea I
either write, read, or do a little fancy-work, or draw as I please.'
Charlotte also told Mrs. Gaskell 'that, at this period of her life,
drawing, and walking with her sisters, formed the two great pleasures
and relaxations of her day.'
Mr. Brontë, observing that his son and daughters took pleasure in the
art of drawing, and believing this to be one of their natural gifts
that ought to be cultivated, perhaps as an accomplishment which they
might some time find useful in tuition, obtained for them a
drawing-master. But he also observed that Branwell excelled his sisters
in the art, while he likewise painted in oils, and he may at times have
had some hope that his son would become a distinguished artist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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