The face behind the character

    Click here for a post on the real people behind famous literary characters, and you'll see a range of photographs of individuals on whom authors based their creations.

    The young woman pictured is a Gibson Girl called Evelyn Nesbit. L.M. Montgomery cut her photograph out of a magazine and used her as the 'model' for Anne Shirley - Anne of Green Gables!

Comments

[the velvet nap]

Evelyn Nesbit also appears in Doctorow's Ragtime - a glamour-puss if ever there was one

[jenclair]

How very strange that the notorious Evelyn was the model for Anne Shirley! I wonder how Montgomery felt when the Stanford White scandal began making the news.

[LizF]

Funnily enough I had never imagined Anne Shirley to be quite so glamorous!

[Ruthiella]

Am I wrong in thinking that Anne had auburn hair? I guess it is hard to tell with b/w photos, but Evelyn's hair seems to be very much brown. Anyway, not my idea of Anne either although she is very pretty.

[Cornflower]

Indeed!

[Cornflower]

Nor had I.

[Cornflower]

I think Anne's hair was auburn. I wonder what it was about Evelyn's face that drew L.M. Montgomery to use her as a visual reference for her character.

[Cornflower]

Not as you'd imagine Anne at all!