Poor Anne.

July 26, 2015 7:46 AM

If this is a real picture of the Brontës, then I'm Heathcliff! [The Guardian] A collector is convinced that the £15 photograph he snapped up on eBay is of the Brontë sisters. It’s highly unlikely, but the story is a mark of our enduring fascination with the literary family. Plus, a Brontë Society expert gives her verdict. Could this be the only photograph of the three Brontë sisters? asked Seamus Molloy [Daily Mail], who picked the photograph up for 15 quid on eBay.
posted by Fizz (8 comments total)

Kate Beaton's depiction of Anne, Charlotte, and Emily is definitive, as far as I'm concerned: Dude Watchin' with the Brontës.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:53 AM on July 26, 2015 [16 favorites]

Victorianists have been down this road before with a different group photograph. There's one possible carte de visite photograph of Charlotte (scroll to second row), but there remain questions about the sitter's identity.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:45 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I know I've outed my obsession with Victorian clothing before but the absolute earliest that photo could have been taken is the mid 1850s based on dress and hairstyles. The cut of the bodices look truly early 1860s (as well as the droopy ear-covering hairstyles) but they're not wearing hoops, so it is either the mid to late 1850s or they got practical and didn't wear hoops for the photo. Or were very conservative and considered hoops to be of the devil.
posted by annathea at 10:09 AM on July 26, 2015 [7 favorites]

I agree it's no way early enough. I have no expertise but to me it looks clearly latter half of the nineteenth - there's none of the pseudo Ancient Greek influence of the early nineteenth.
posted by Segundus at 2:29 PM on July 26, 2015

I will give up my atheism if a freak weather event destroys the offices of the Daily Mail.
posted by jaduncan at 3:13 PM on July 26, 2015

Well I've spent all afternoon obsessing over thomas j wise's link while eating slices of fudge and yeah, I believe. Also, best day ever (ask me how long I spent reading about Belgian millinery in the 1840's!).
posted by annathea at 4:05 PM on July 26, 2015

Knowing the Daily Mail readership, someone from East Anglia will no doubt point out that these were the downstairs staff at Luton Hoo having an identification picture snapped prior to a visit from Queen Victoria, or some such. Then the historian will present exactly that picture from the guestbook, sending the entire country into a turmoil. For exactly three days, until it rains again.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 5:47 PM on July 26, 2015

Of course it's the Brontes. Look--can you name any other group of three sisters from the C19th? No? Q. E. motherfucking D. Any portrait of three women from the C19th is the Brontes. Brontes. Brontes. Brontes. Brontes. Brontes. Brontes.
posted by yoink at 9:41 AM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]