New Portrait of Jane Austen?

Let’s face it. Cassandra Austen’s tiny watercolour of her famous sister simply does not satisfy viewers. Jane Austen’s fans have been dying to find another authentic portrait of their favorite author. Has Dr. Paula Byrne accomplished this task? The Guardian.UK features an article with an imaginary portrait that Dr. Byrne believes was drawn from life. [...]

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Going to See Cassandra’s Portrait of Her Sister Jane Austen

Copyright (c) Jane Austen’s World. Post written by Tony Grant, London Calling. The pencil and watercolour picture Cassandra made of Jane Austen in about 1810, is in the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is unique within the exhibits there because, although it is grouped with other 18th century [...]

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Silhouettes: Tracing Jane Austen’s Shade

Before photography, tracing silhouettes was a hugely popular and inexpensive way of capturing a person’s likeness. Even financially stretched families could afford to have a family member stand in front of a light. Their profiles were then traced onto a sheet of paper and cut with scissors. Granted, artistry was involved in the tracing and [...]

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Another Idealized Image of Jane?

Online Texts and Journals, University of Pennsylvania In closely viewing this rendering, I sense a “Victorian” influence around the lips and eyes. I am going on nothing more than my gut instinct and background in art.

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Update on the Rice Portrait

The “Rice Portrait” of a supposedly young Jane Austen failed to sell at auction at Christie’s on April 19th. For details, read The Globe article here or the Austen.blog’s extensive post about the failed sale. To read the online NBC article, Confessions of an Austen-ite by Lisa Daniels, click here. And for a 3 minute [...]

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Jane’s Visage: A Pretty Lively Girl With Grace and Style

In light of the recent movie about Jane Austen – On Becoming Jane – and the Rice Portrait that will be auctioned by Christie’s Auction House in mid-April, I’ve included some verbal descriptions to round out the few known portraits of her that exist. Jane’s nephew, James Austen-Leigh remembers his aunt as thus, “Tall and [...]

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Is the Rice Portrait of Jane Austen Her Image? You decide…

Is this a life likeness of Jane Austen at 14 or 15 or isn’t? That is the question about the Rice Portrait of Jane Austen by 18th-century British artist Ozias Humphry. The painting will be auctioned on April 19 at Christie’s in New York for over a half million dollars. The Rice family claims that [...]

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What Did Jane Austen Look Like?

The Many Faces of Jane does an admirable job of presenting the few images of Jane that exist. More images are shown in the Jane Austen Ebooks site. As you see, some of them are duplicates from the first site. Here is a portrait painted by someone who studied her images and those of her [...]

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