poliphilo

We don't really know what Charlotte Bronte looked like. There is a group portrait of the teenage Bronte sisters by their brother Branwell which is naff, and there's the "society" portrait by George Richmond which is idealised. These are the only pictures we possess that we know she sat for. There are a few 'disputed" portraits and photographs- but they just muddy the water.

It's tantalising to learn- as I did while doing some research this morning- that John Everett Millais very much wanted to paint her portrait but withdrew when he learned that Richmond had got there first. Millais was a greater artist than Richmond and it's a shame he didn't get his chance. He said that she represented his idea of female genius, that her eyes were remarkable and that she "looked tired with her own brains"

AI clearly knows a thing or two about Bronte portraits because the pictures it gave me do bear some resemblance to Richmond's. I wanted to have 19th century Brussels in the background because the Yorkshire Moors would be a bit hackneyed and Brussels was important to her. Also it's the setting of what I regard as her greatest novel, Villette.