Charlotte Bronte | Five pencil sketches, framed together

Charlotte Brontë

Five pencil sketches by Charlotte Brontë, comprising:

i) "Cottage in Wallasley", (100 x 144mm);

ii) "Cottage in lane near Mr Armstrong's", (83 x 121mm);

iii) "Bridge near Wrottle", (116 x 122mm);

iv) "Cottages opposite the Bank of Bolwell House", (118 x 140mm);

v) "The Summer House on the lawn of Bolwell House", (128 x 112mm);

all pencil sketches, captioned, unsigned, mounted together, framed and glazed

All of these sketches are recorded and reproduced within Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars' The Art of the Brontës, Cambridge: University Press, 1995.

Only the fifth sketch is given a definite attribution (number 162) by Alexander and Sellars. They state that "the sketch appears to have been made from nature... it probably indicates a garden Charlotte visited, possibly with the Taylor family; but unfortunately no record has been found so far of Bolwell House". Alexander and Sellars note with reference to the caption and date that "the hand is identical to other examples of Charlotte's writing at this date". The provenance of the five sketches can be definitely traced back to John Alexander Symington (then sold by Christie's, 18 December 1964, lot 59). As noted by Alexander and Sellars, "earlier provenance may be associated with Arthur Bell Nicholls".

Of the other sketches, Alexander and Sellars note, of sketch one, that "the hand is almost identical to that of Charlotte (except for the 'tt')... part of the watermark 'J. WHATMAN' shows clearly through the right side of the paper. Charlotte was still using paper with this mark until August 1845". In reference to the second sketch, Alexander and Sellars state that "the hand is almost identical to that of Charlotte, except for the unusual 'tt' and the flattened appearance of the writing". Once again, the paper includes part of the 'J. WHATMAN' watermark. The third sketch includes a caption that Alexander and Sellars claim "is almost identical to that of Charlotte, especially the 'B', 'd' and 'g' of 'Bridge'; but the 'tt' and 'W' of 'Wrottle' are unlike her normal style. The fourth sketch, "Cottages opposite the Bank of Bolwell House" is described by Alexander and Sellars with the note "the hand is almost identical to that of Charlotte, except for the unusual 'tt', the clumsy 'H' and the joining of words." With reference to these four sketches, Alexander and Sellars suggest that "minor variations in the script of the title[s] compared to other examples of [Charlotte's] hand at this time... make attribution uncertain".

PROVENANCE:

Arthur Bell Nicholls[?], John Alexander Symington