Anne Bronte

Comparing Anne

If the 'Bronte Sisters Photograph' does depict the sisters then it will be an 1850s copy of an 1840s daguerreotype.

'Anne' in the 'Bronte Sisters Photograph'.

This page compares portraits of Anne Bronte with 'Anne' in the 'Bronte Sisters Photograph'. The collodion photo dates from the 1850s or 1860s, some thirty or forty years before any image of Anne was published. If this is not a photograph of Anne Bronte then any resemblance could only be coincidental.

 The Bronte Family

Anne Bronte was described by Ellen Nussey as being "quite different in appearance to the others" [i.e. Emily & Charlotte]. Her features were quite similar to her father and her brother, with the exception of the "Bronte nose". Anne's nose was a blend of Roman and Greek, aquiline but not prominent.

Left-Right: Branwell Bronte, Patrick Bronte & Anne Bronte.

Colour is not always consistent in the Bronte portraits. In the 'Pillar' group for example the hair of all three sisters is the same. The most reliable source is Ellen Nussey who described Anne's hair as being "a very pretty light brown" and "lovely violet-blue eyes".

Undisputed Portraits of Anne Bronte

Anne Bronte (1820-49): Four undisputed portraits exist, all dating from the 1830s. These are used below to compare with the photograph. The portraits were created by Charlotte and Branwell as teenagers around the mid-1830s, when Anne was about 13 to 15 years of age. If the photograph is of Anne then the date is estimated as 1847-8 when she was about 27-years-old.

It is easy to differentiate between Anne and her sisters in profile portraits because her lower lip extends beyond the chin and the upper lip projects further still.

Comparing Portraits

1833

Left: Portrait of Anne Bronte c1833. The original has been reversed for comparison with the photo. If the estimated date of the painting is correct then Anne would be about 13-years-old. It was painted by her sister Charlotte who was then about 17-years-old.

1833

Left: Portrait of Anne Bronte dated 1833. The original has been reversed for comparison with the photo. If the estimated date of the painting is correct then Anne would be 13-years-old. It was painted by her sister Charlotte who was then about 17-years-old.

1834

Left: Portrait of Anne Bronte, dated June, 1834 when she was 14-years-old. It was painted by her sister Charlotte who was then about 18-years-old.

1834-6

Left: Portrait of Anne Bronte in the 'Pillar' portrait c1835. The original has been reversed for comparison with the photo. If the estimated date of the painting is correct then Anne would be about 15-years-old. It was painted by her brother Branwell who was then about 18-years-old.

Contested Portraits

The 'Profile' portrait from the 'Gun' Group.

The 'Profile' portrait (NPG 1724) at the National Portrait Gallery is identified as 'Emily Bronte' but the nose is the wrong shape (see the group portrait NPG 1725). The features of the girl in the 'Profile' portrait could only be those of Anne Bronte.

Above: The 'Profile Portrait' c1835 alongside a tracing; Anne would be about 15 years old. 
Below: 'Anne' in the photograph - if this is Anne & the photo was taken in 1848 she would be 28 years old.

 Alleged Portraits of Anne Bronte

An undated pencil sketch of an  unidentified young woman, by Charlotte Bronte, was published in 1906. It was undoubtedly genuine but without any explanation it was identified by the owner as a portrait of Anne Bronte. This is probably incorrect because her features are not consistent with Anne's four undisputed portraits. She is either someone known to Charlotte, an idealised self-portrait or simply copied from an illustration.

Decades later, two portraits of a different young woman (or women) with large eyes emerged, but these were created by Anne Bronte. Over the years these have been identified, potentially, as portraits of Anne. There are more details on the page "The Problem with Anne".

Some descriptions of Anne

"Her hair was a very pretty light brown, and fell on her neck in graceful curls. She had lovely violet-blue eyes, fine pencilled eyebrows and a clear almost transparent complexion."

 "[Emily] and gentle Anne were to be seen twined together as united statues of power and humility. They were to be seen with their arms lacing each other in their younger days whenever their occupations permitted their union."

 Description of Anne by Charlotte's friend, Ellen Nussey.

"A gentle, quiet, rather subdued person, by no means pretty, yet of a pleasing appearance.....Her manner was curiously expressive of a wish for protection and encouragement, a kind of constant appeal which invited sympathy."

Description of Anne by the publisher George Smith.

1. Description of Anne by Ellen Nussey. Clement Shorter (ed.), The Brontes: Life and Letters, 2 vols. (London, 1908), Volume 1, P103.