The Young Brontes and Art

Continuing the cultural exchange between BRIDFAS and the Bronte Group, on 9 May several Bronte members made the trip to Woluwe St Lambert to hear the lecture given by Elizabeth Merry, BA, MA on The Young Brontes and Art.

Elizabeth has lectured on the Brontes for many years, but this was her first lecture in Brussels. She gave an informative and fascinating description of the artistic accomplishments of the talented Bronte children.

Through a series of slides Elizabeth showed us how the children copied from the artwork that surrounded them on the walls of the parsonage. These were mainly apocalyptic scenes of Biblical events, but they also had access to a variety of books, and illustrated magazines and journals of the day. The children copied from these sources and Elizabeth explored how they influenced the Brontes’ creativity in their story writing, and how they adapted their copies to illustrate the characters and landscapes that populated their complex imaginary worlds of Gondal and Angria.

All the Bronte members immensely enjoyed Elizabeth’s talk and we hope that she will return to Brussels to talk to our group at a future date.

Finally, our thanks to Paula Cagli, BRIDFAS chair, for organising the event and making us very welcome.

Sharon Rowles