The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë; Emily Brontë; Charlotte Brontë), c. 1834

This is the only surviving group portrait of the English novelists, Anne (1820–1849), Emily (1818–1848) and Charlotte Brontë (1816–55), painted by their brother Branwell (1817–1848) when he was seventeen. The sisters’ well-known novels include Anne’s Agnes Grey, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, all first published in 1847 using their respective pseudonyms, Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell.

This portrait was thought to have been lost until it was discovered folded up on top of a cupboard in 1914. The barely discernible male figure in the middle, previously concealed by a painted pillar that has become slightly transparent with age, is almost certainly a self portrait of Branwell. His decision to paint himself out of the composition could be interpreted as the young and aspiring artist’s experimentations with his emerging sense of self. Following the portrait’s acquisition, the National Portrait Gallery made the highly unusual decision not to restore it, but to retain the fold marks and paint losses, evidence of the neglect it had suffered that has proved integral to the portrait’s enduring appeal.

National Portrait Gallery, London. Purchased, 1914
© National Portrait Gallery, London