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Charlotte Bronte saw this painting 183 years before I did

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THE WRITER CHARLOTTE Bronte (1816-1855) and her sister Emily lived in Brussels from 1842 to 1844. Charlotte’s novel “Villette” (published in 1853) is based on her stay in Belgium’s capital city. In the novel, a young female character, Lucy Snowe, visited a gallery in the city, and noticed a painting that had been set aside to be viewed by connoisseurs. It was described in the story as follows:

“It represented a woman, considerably larger, I thought, than the life. I calculated that this lady, put into a scale of magnitude, suitable for the reception of a commodity of bulk, would infallibly turn from fourteen to sixteen stone. She was, indeed, extremely well fed: very much butcher’s meat—to say nothing of bread, vegetables, and liquids—must she have consumed to attain that breadth and height, that wealth of muscle, that affluence of flesh. She lay half-reclined on a couch: why, it would be difficult to say; broad daylight blazed round her; she appeared in hearty health, strong enough to do the work of two plain cooks; she could not plead a weak spine; she ought to have been standing, or at least sitting bolt upright. She, had no business to lounge away the noon on a sofa. She ought likewise to have worn decent garments; a gown covering her properly, which was not the case: out of abundance of material—seven-and-twenty yards, I should say, of drapery—she managed to make inefficient raiment. … On referring to the catalogue, I found that this notable production bore the name ‘Cleopatra.’”

Today, 29 October 2025, we looked at a small exhibition in London’s Bury Street. Presented by a Turkish gallery, Guler & Guler, the show was called “Silks & Sultanas: Courtly Fabrics and Depictions of Women in the Ottoman World”. Mr Cem Güler kindly showed us around his small, but superb exhibition. One of the larger paintings, which depicts a reclining lady, is called “The Almeh” (i.e., The Sultan’s favourite), and was painted by Eduoard de Biefve (1808-1882), a Belgian. It was painted in 1842, the year that the Bronte girls arrived in Brussels. Mr Guler explained that this was the painting that Charlotte described in “Villette”. The description in the extract reproduced above is a good description of what we saw today, but the author added a few details that are not present in the painting.

In December 2023, the painting was auctioned by Sotheby’s in Dallas (USA). The auction house’s website remarked of this painting:

“The present painting met with a tumultuous reception in 1842 largely because of its title. The Arab term Almeh designates a class of educated women who sang and recited poems from behind a screen or from another room during parties or private entertainments. However, the term’s meaning became distorted and for many at that time it was associated with exhibitionist dancers whose suggestive dances had a sexual connotation. L’Almeh by Bièfve is deliberately provocative: languorously reclining on a couch, the woman looks directly at the viewer and points a finger at the mattress. It is hardly surprising that the painting met with such reactions.”

And in “Villette”, after being caught looking at the painting, the young English lady viewing it is told off by Monsieur Paul Emanuel, who clearly thought it an unsuitable picture to be seen by a young lady. And Lucy Snowe did not approve of it, as is related in the following from artdaily.com:

“We may think of our historic and leading creative minds as endlessly progressive, but in 1842, the indelible Charlotte Brontë came face to face with a controversial new painting, a true succès de scandale that by all evidence disturbed and irritated her so badly that she wrote at length about it in her final — and some say her best — novel, Villette. Brontë’s fictional proxy, the main character Lucy Snowe, stares at the painting (and its seductive subject) and thinks: ‘…this picture, I say, seemed to consider itself the queen of the collection. She lay half-reclined on a couch: why, it would be difficult to say … She had no business to lounge away the noon on a sofa. She ought likewise to have worn decent garments; a gown covering her properly, which was not the case … Then, for the wretched untidiness surrounding her, there could be no excuse … it was on the whole an enormous piece of claptrap’.”

We had entered the small gallery to see the exhibition because I wanted to see whether there were any paintings of women dressed in traditional Albanian folk costumes (Albania was part of the Ottoman empire until 1912). There were none, but, instead, I came face to face with a painting that had caught the attention of Charlotte Bronte soon after it was painted.

Mediaeval paintings on a wall in a church in Kent

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ON OUR WAY to visiting friends, who live in Tonbridge (Kent), we stopped to look at the Church of St Thomas à Becket in the village of Capel. The saint lived from c1120 until his murder in 1170. An old tree in the churchyard at Capel is fenced off and alongside it, there is a label that informs the reader that the saint was:

“… supposed to have preached beneath this lovely old yew tree.”

Given that it is now the year 2025, the very latest that he could have preached beneath this tree would have been 855 years ago. As some yew trees can remain alive for several thousand years (https://fortingall-graveyard.org.uk/yew-tree), it is quite possible that the venerable yew at Capel was around when St Thomas à Becket was active.

The interior of the church offers visitors a wonderful surprise. The north wall of the church has many sizeable fragments of wall paintings that were uncovered in 1927. They had been covered with whitewash (paint) during the Reformation (sixteenth century) during which church decorations were largely removed, destroyed, or hidden. Experts believe that these paintings were executed in two periods: in about 1200 and then about 50 years later. The subject matter of these wall paintings was religious, designed to convey bible stories to those parishioners who could not read, and who did not understand Latin, then the language used during church services.

Amongst many other fascinating things in this small church, the communion rail caught my attention. Carved in the seventeenth century, it bears the date 1682 and the name “Michael Davis”. According to an informative leaflet in the church, in the 1630s Archbishop Laud (1573-1645) recommended installing such rails to prevent dogs from entering and defiling the sanctuary that contains the high altar. The simple stone altar was made in 1979 to replace a seventeenth century communion table that had been stolen. Like mediaeval stone altars, the modern one at Capel is inscribed with five crosses, which symbolise the five wounds made in the crucified Christ.

Although still consecrated, the church is not used often. It is now cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust and left open during the day for visitors to enter. For those interested in seeing mediaeval wall paintings in Kent, apart from at Capel there are fine examples at: Chiddingstone, Newington-next-Sittingbourne, Stone, and Barfreston.

A small hamlet in Kent with many memories

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GODDEN GREEN IS a tiny hamlet next to Knole Park, close to Sevenoaks in Kent. There is not much to the place, but it has a special place in my heart, and seeing the place, or even thinking about it, makes me nostalgic. You can discover why by reading my book “AN ALPHABETICAL TOUR OF ENGLAND”. The book and Kindle are available from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0FVV6JLZ7/

Green hops and beer at a pub near Tonbridge in Kent

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THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY of Kent, you will spot the conical roofs of oast houses in which the hops used to flavour beer are dried. Many of these curious looking buildings are no longer used for their original purpose. Many of them have been converted into picturesque residences. In late October 2025, we booked a table to eat lunch at the Dovecote Inn, a pub near Capel, which is not far from Tonbridge in Kent. We were advised that it might be noisy because there would be a beer festival going on when we were there.

The event was “The Dovecote Green Hop Festival”. Green hops, sometimes called ‘wet hops’, are hops harvested from the vines (the ‘bines’), and used to make beer within 24 hours of having been picked. The beers produced with these fresh, rather than dried, hops, have their own distinctive flavours, which are fresher and more vibrant than other beers. This is because the green hops contain ingredients that are lost when hops are dried out. However, to produce beer with the freshly picked hops, a far greater quantity of hops is required than when using the dried ones. I tried one of the green hop bitters, and it tasted wonderful.

The Dovecote Inn turned out to be a delightful, small late eighteenth century establishment. Its landlord was extremely friendly, as were his team of staff. Although we had to wait a long time for our food, it was well-worth waiting for. As for the noisy festival about which we had been warned, it did not seemed to have taken off by the time we ate there early on a Friday afternoon. We looked around at the customers and amongst about twenty people, only four of them were drinking beer. I suspect that had we stayed until the evening, the beer consumption level would have increased by then.

On the way out, I paid a visit to the men’s toilet. This was a sight to be seen. The walls of this part of the pub are covered with an eye-catching wallpaper whose design is a dazzling collage of American comic covers (“Bat Man”, “Wonderwoman”, Superman”, etc.).

Only a few miles from Tonbridge, The Dovecote Inn is well worth a visit, but if you plan on eating there, leave plenty of time.

Wonderful stained-glass windows at a church in the countryside of Kent

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IT IS NOT EVERY day that when one walks into a remote English country church, you are confronted by set of stained-glass windows that were designed by a famous Jewish early Modernist artist. At Tudely, near Tonbridge in Kent, the church’s stained-glass windows were designed by none other than the famous artist, Marc Chagall (1887-1985). I have visited the church several times, and each time I am even more amazed than on previous visits.

You might be wondering why windows designed by an artist as famous as Chagall are in a small, isolated parish church. To discover the reason for their presence, you should get a copy of my book “An Alphabetical Tour of England”, and read about the tragic event that led to the creation of these fascinating windows. The boo is available from Amazon sites such as:https://www.amazon.co.uk/ALPHABETICAL-TOUR-ENGLAND-Adam-Yamey/dp/B0FVV6JLZ7/

Epstein, Gill, and Moore on Broadway

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THE ARCHITECT CHARLES HOLDEN (1875-1960) designed many stations for the London Underground, mainly on its Piccadilly Line. Each of these incorporates features of Art Deco and Modernism. Holden designed a new headquarters building for the forerunner of London Underground, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London. Now known as 55 Broadway, it was built between 1927 and 1929. The Underground company occupied it from 1933 until 1984, when it became the headquarters of London Regional Transport, and then its successor Transport For London. After 2020, it has served other purposes. The ground floor is occupied by both a shopping arcade and the entrance hall to St James Park Underground Station.

55 Broadway is a tall, cruciform building surmounted by a clock tower. One of the reasons for this shape was to ensure that all of the offices within the cruciform tower, the bulk of the edifice, were close to the external walls, and therefore had access to plenty of daylight. Apart from looking impressive, the building is not highly decorative, and not as attractive as some of its architect’s designs for Underground stations.  Having said this, it is not entirely devoid of decorative features.

What makes 55 Broadway of special interest is the set of sculptures attached to its exterior. Near to ground level, there are two large figurative works by the artist Jacob Epstein (1880-1959), one called “Day” and the other “Night”. When they were unveiled, prudish members of the public objected to them, as is revealed in an article on Wikipedia:

“The modernism and graphic nakedness of these sculptures created public outrage on their unveiling. Newspapers started a campaign to have the statues removed and one company director, Lord Colwyn, offered to pay the cost. Frank Pick, the managing director of the UERL at the time, took overall responsibility and offered his resignation over the scandal. In the end, Epstein agreed to remove 1.5 inches (38 mm) from the penis of the smaller figure on Day and ultimately the furore died down.”

Much higher up the building, between the fifth and sixth floors, there are bas-relief sculptures depicting the four winds. Two are by Eric Gill (1882-1940), one is by Samuel Rabinovitch (Samuel Rabin: 1903-1991), and another by Henry Moore (1898-1986). And within the Underground station, I noticed four mosaic panels. Called “Angels of History”, they were created by London-based Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, and installed in 2024.

What was once an important headquarters building is still a place where fascinating works of art can be seen, as well as being an example of Modernist architecture in London. Soon after 55 Broadway was completed, Holden designed the University of London’s Senate House. Like 55 Broadway, it impresses the viewer, but lacks the visual appeal of Holden’s Underground stations.

A church beside a canal in London’s Paddington

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THE GRAND JUNCTION café is a peasant little place in a modern building a few feet away from the footpath that runs alongside the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, not far from Little Venice. This refreshment place is attached to a much older building, the church of St Mary Magdalene Paddington. It is a gem of Victorian gothic architecture. This is what I wrote about it in my book “Beyond Marylebone and Mayfair: Exploring West London”:

“[the church] … was designed by George Edmund Street (1824-1881), and completed in 1878. It was built in what was then an area with poor quality housing, where often several hard-up families used to live crowded together under a single roof. The parish in which it is located began life as an offshoot of All Saints in Margaret Street (near Oxford Circus). Like All Saints, St Mary Magdalene’s was established as an Anglo-Catholic church. Its website (grandjunction.org.uk) revealed that Anglo-Catholicism:

‘… emphasises the Catholic heritage and identity of the Church of England. In the mid-nineteenth century Anglo-Catholicism was very controversial and provoked riots. Anglo-Catholic churches were often built in very poor areas, and their clergy believed that their services, full of light, colour, music and ritual, were likely to appeal to the poor.’

Like All Saints Margaret Street, the interior of St Mary Magdalene’s is a masterpiece of Victorian gothic extravaganza, a glorious riot of colour. The nave has a magnificent painted ceiling which includes faces of various saints. This was painted by Daniel Bell, a Victorian artist. Sculptures of saints carved by Thomas Earp (1823-1893) look down on the nave. The floor of the vast nave is decoratively tiled. Street did not believe in fixed pews such as are found in many other Victorian churches and were rented out to parishioners to raise money. He believed in ‘free seating’, especially in a church like St Mary Magdelene’s that was built to serve the poor. The apse is unusual in that it is polygonal, reminiscent of apses that the widely travelled Street had seen in mediaeval French and Flemish churches.

An unusual feature of this out of the ordinary church is that although the nave is flanked by a south and a north aisle, the latter is barely wide enough to accommodate one person, whereas the south one is almost as wide as the nave. The reason for the narrow north aisle was related to building regulations in force when the church was being constructed.”

We entered the church recently (in October 2025), after not having seen its interior since one quiet day in about 2021 during a respite in the covid19 lockdown regulations, and it looked as glorious as I remembered it. The church is still used for religious services and often as a centre for many local community events. Both the church and the café attached to it are well-worth visiting.

PS my book about west London is available from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/BEYOND-MARYLEBONE-MAYFAIR-EXPLORING-LONDON/dp/B0B7CR679W/

A Nigerian who created artworks for a British daily newspaper

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SEVEN CARVED WOODEN figures stand in a line at an exhibition in London’s Tate Modern gallery. Each of them is depicted holding something that looks like an book or a pair of wings. Their faces are all different, as are their expressions and heights. They were carved by the Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994), and form part of a superb exhibition, “Nigerian Modernism”, which is showing until 10 May 2026.

Ben Enwonwu was born in Nigeria. His father was a traditional sculptor. Ben studied art first at Government College in Ibadan (Nigeria), and then at Government College Umuahia. At both places, he studied art under Kenneth Murray (1902-1972). In 1944, Ben was awarded a scholarship that allowed him to study both at The Slade School of Art in London and at The Ruskin School in Oxford. Also he undertook postgraduate studies in West African anthropology at the University of London. Thereafter, he taught art in Nigeria, where he created many of his sculptures and paintings. Since completing his education, Enwonwu has received international acclaim for his work.

In 1960, Ben proposed making a sculpture to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to Nigeria in 1956. It was to be placed in the Nigerian House of Representatives in preparation for Nigeria’s independence in 1960. At the Tate’s exhibition, there is a photograph of Enwonwu working on this sculpture in the studio of his friend, the sculptor William Reid Dick (1878-1961), who was Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland to Queen Elizabeth. At around this time, Ben received another commission in England.

The British newspaper, the Daily Mirror, commissioned Ben to create 7 sculptures for their headquarters. Carved in ebony, these are the works mentioned above. The diversity of their forms and expressions is supposed to represent the variety of people reading thepaper. According to a label in the exhibition, Enwonwu said:

“I tried … to represent the wings of the Daily Mirror, flying news all over the world.”

The statues were placed in the headquarters public courtyard in Holborn. Currently, they are in the Tate Modern, but after having been lost for several years, they were sold at public auction. They are now owned by Access Holdings PLC, a Nigerian company.

In addition to what I have already described, there are many more works by Enwonwu in the exhibition, both paintings and sculptures. Each one of them is wonderful. His works show the influence of European Modernism, but at the same time they reflect the artist’s African background and his involvement in the traditional art of his homeland. He was sympathetic to the Négritude movement, an anti-colonial cultural and political movement founded by African and Caribbean students in Paris in the 1930s, but was also affected by twentieth century artistic movements in Europe and the USA. It was fascinating to see how the modern art trends of the mid-twentieth century were successfully integrated with the artist’s desire to portray the life and traditions of Africa.