Jane Austen Portait with frame. UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £164,000
A portrait of Jane Austen, the defining image of the author which has been reproduced innumerable times and will feature on the Bank of England £10 note in 2017, comes up at Sotheby’s in London on December 10. Rarely seen in public it is to be the centrepiece of Sotheby’s sale of English Literature and History. The watercolour has remained in the Austen family since it was painted. It is estimated at £150,000-200,000.
The portrait was commissioned by Jane Austen’s nephew, Rev. James Edward Austen-Leigh in 1869 to accompany Memoir of Jane Austen, his hugely influential first full-length biography of the novelist. The painting was based on the only confirmed portrait of Jane Austen made during her lifetime – a study by her sister Cassandra, (now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery). Austen-Leigh, who was very close to his aunt, (her surviving letters to him are deeply affectionate) did not believe this depiction did her justice and wanted a truer likeness created for posterity. He tasked a local artist, James Andrews of Maidenhead, with producing a more satisfying version based on Cassandra’s sketch and his own distinctive memories: “In person she was very attractive; her figure was rather tall and slender, her step light and firm, and her whole appearance expressive of health and animation. In complexion she was a clear brunette with a rich colour; she had full round cheeks, with mouth and nose small and well formed, bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls close round her face … “
This is the bi-centenary of the publication of three Jane Austen classics, Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815).