Amelia Bowers
Reporter
Faculty and staff at Mississippi University for Women were surprised and delighted to discover that a rare, authentic pencil sketch of author George Eliot has been hanging in plain sight for years in the John C. Fant Memorial Library.
The portrait of Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans), along with numerous volumes of her works, were donated in 1941 to the university by devout scholar and MUW graduate Blanche Colton Williams. Since then, the likeness has been kept on campus and in the past few years has been hanging in Fant Memorial Library. It wasn’t until Dr. Thomas Richardson, Eudora Welty Professor of English at The W, inquired about the portrait that its value was truly realized.
“It was my wife, Emma, who actually saw the portrait and called it to my attention,” said Richardson. “What struck her about it was that it had been in the Blackwoods publishing firm in Edinburgh. The portrait itself was purchased by John Blackwood who was the publisher of most of George Eliot’s works. And it stayed in Blackwoods publishing office in Edinburgh perhaps as late as 1914.”
With the help of MUW art faculty, the previous homes of the painting were easily traced from stickers found behind the framing. From Blackwoods publishing office, the portrait was displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum and in the New Gallery Museum, both located in London. After being auctioned off to bookseller Jacob Schwarz in 1935, the painting fell into the hands of Blanche Colton Williams, who donated it to the university.
“George Eliot sat for the portrait in 1860 in Samuel Laurence’s studio, and the portrait is signed by the artist. Laurence was a well-known portrait artist in the 19th century in London, and a lot of his works are in the National Portrait Gallery in London. He did portraits of other writers, so he wanted to do a portrait of George Eliot and so she agreed to it but didn’t want it exhibited,” explained Richardson.
The portrait was eventually shown to the public after Eliot’s death in 1882, but since then the location of the portrait has been completely unknown to scholars.
Stephanie Salvaterra, the archivist and Special Collections librarian at MUW, also played a pivotal role in deciding the best place to display such a rare and valuable piece.
“It was so strange in part because it was just hanging on a wall in the library without any fanfare or anything. So that kind of led to a conversation about what we do with it now that we know it’s that old and potentially that valuable,” said Salvaterra. “So, we decided that because of traffic and also light exposure it would be better to put it upstairs in the archives.”
Now attention can be turned to what effect this discovery might have on the future of the Mississippi University for Women.
“It depends upon how it is promoted,” said Dr. Beverly Joyce, professor of Art History and Gallery Director. “I think that there are individuals who are interested in literary history who would love to see a work like this. But we had suggested that it be stored because it is valuable and because it is so old. So, it just depends upon how people are able to find out about it.”
Just because it’s in the archives doesn’t mean it won’t be available for study.
“We’re always adding things to the collection, but the point is to make things accessible so that people can find them, and people can do research” says Salvaterra. “We have the finding aids which are basically descriptions of the contents of our archives. We also have the Athena Commons which is where all of our digitalized records live. I think just having records available for people to look at without having to come in really helps foster that connection and hopefully interest as well.”
Richardson feels particularly confident about the future since this mystery was solved.
“I think this is a big discovery. It’s going to really call attention to the archives at The W because Eliot scholars will want to come and see it. The archives are a wonderful treasure. Certainly for women’s education, but also for literary material, Eudora Welty material, but there’s more Blanche Colton Williams and George Eliot material in the archives that I think will be of interest to researchers. It really should open a lot of attention to The W.”
Richardson is currently writing an article about the valued portrait, and he hopes to publish it in a journal sometime soon.