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

[amberb-uk.livejournal.com]

The thought I had, as a re-enactor of this period... was also Victorian touches about this rather than it being correct for the 1780s (or even correct for the 1800s)!

[oakmouse]

It doesn't seem quite right to me either, but it's been long enough since I studied costume from that era that I can't quite put a finger on anything other than the obviously wrong waist and the fact that the skirt doesn't drape correctly.