As part of an ongoing programme of arts and education events at the museum taking place during August 2008, artist Kate Potter will be photographing willing visitors as Charlotte, Emily or Anne Brontë.
Resident at the museum for one day, Kate will later develop the photographs using a traditional photographic technique called collodion to resemble the photography of the Victorian period.
The sitters will then have the opportunity to purchase Victorian-style portraits of themselves as Brontës.
“We’re looking for as many people as possible to come along and have their photograph taken as Charlotte, Emily or Anne,” said the museum’s arts officer, Jenna Holmes. “This special project will explore the Brontës' visual identities and will invite 21st-century visitors to imagine what the sisters might have looked like.”
Although photography was invented during the Brontës' lifetimes, there are no definitive images of the Brontë sisters. Apart from one (pictured) which is believed by many to be the only known photograph of Charlotte Brontë, taken in the last year of her life in 1854.
For more information on events, including talks, walks and workshops at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, see the museum website (details below).