Is This Jane Austen?

[poliphilo]

This is the Rice portrait of the teenage Jane Austen which is being sold at Christie's today. 

Is it authentic ? 

Hmmmmmm. 

It's supported by oral tradition but...

...Some people think the frock is all wrong for the 1780s.

Short of going back in a Tardis we're never going to know.

But it's pretty, isn't it?

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The idea of it being a sort of homage to Jane is delightful.

I don't believe there's any documentary evidence to prove that the picture existed in 1790. It's attributed to a known painter- Ozias Humphrey- with established dates- on the basis of a signature that was there once but disappeared when the painting was too vigorously cleaned at some time in the past (or so they say).

The painting was first published in the 1880s and was accepted as authentic- and as the best representation of Jane- for 40 or 50 years. Then someone raised doubts about the dress and it pretty much dropped out of sight until now.