Victorian Visual Culture

Portraits of Lady Dedlock appear twice throughout Bleak House, despite Rosa’s attestation in the portrait’s first appearance in the novel that Lady Dedlock’s official portrait had never been engraved (copied) at the forbiddance of Sir Leicester. It appears for the second time at the “Galaxy Gallery of British Beauty,” where Guppy is surprised to hear Mr. Weevle’s claim that it is not, in fact, Lady Dedlock. Fascinatingly, Esther functions parallel to the portraits of her mother when she is mistaken for Lady Dedlock by Jo, and when her resemblance is recognized by Guppy.

Lady Dedlock has no control over her image once it’s been reproduced. She is likely unaware of her portrait’s reproduction, and has no control over it’s usage nor ownership. Similarly, she is unaware of her daughter, nor her striking likeness. Once the resemblance to Esther is made clear it is used against her by Guppy and Mr. Tulkinghorn, placing any power she may possess over her public image in the possession of men. Portraits, in this way, mirror the evidence produced by the sexuality of Lady Dedlock, and mimic the transaction of power which occurs in the possession of image, both figuratively and literally. Additionally, Dickens seems to be claiming a certain sexual connotation to portrait making in his choice to have Sir Leicester unaware of the reproduction of his wife’s portrait, as he is also unaware of the sexual reproduction which has also occurred involving his wife.

Judging by the general tenets of Victorian patriarchal morality, it wouldn’t be a stretch to claim that Dickens is positioning portrait-making as inherently degenerative of feminine virtue, however, I claim that his supposition is more broad than simply reinforcing a social standard. I feel that the allegory he’s presented seeks to position image-making of any kind as a force which renders the subject powerless to the possessor of the image, and that the male possession of female sexuality was merely a convenient parallel at the time of his writing.