Jane Austen the Unseen Portrait
Thanks to Mariana Georghe, here we are aware of the 'new' unseen portrait of Jane Austen. The clip is from BBC, but is now in SMaryG's YouTube account. The picture was found by Dr Paula Bryne and was later discussed in the recent BBC documentary titled 'The Unseen Portrait of Jane Austen?'.
A detailed article about this portrait can be found here.
I have to say that the picture does not match to my personal image of hers, which was more influenced by the sketches made by Rice and James Stanier Clarke (we discussed them here and here). The Rice and Clarke sketches displayed the frontal view of the young girl's faces, hence I was led to believe that the nose would not be so pronounced, as in the Bryne portrait.
But the facial features does speak of the talented, witty woman we know as Jane Austen. So... who knows?
Pic: Dr Paula Bryne's found portrait of Jane Austen.
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3 comments:
I've allready saw it, and I don't think she is our dearest Jane. Why not? 'cause that nose, isn't only big but it is a huge nose!!! Camon, here and in Japan that is a really big nose, I don't know what Paula Bryne means when she says that in XVIII maybe that kind of nose wasn't considered a big one kind. Besides that, her eyes, look sad, trully different from her relatieves's eyes. Don't you think.
I don't care if she was beautifull or not, that isn't waht I'm lloking for in Jane. She always will be my favourite writer, and she always will be an intelligent, wicked, and funny person!
I watched the documentary on the BBC over christmas and although I still dont think it is Jane, the arguments in support were very convincing. I thought that the facial recognition technology (as seen on the clip posted here) was particularly interesting.
But if one compares this portrait with the authentic one by Cassandra, how can anyone believe it to be Jane?? I accept *that* version of JA, I know it is a confirmed fact that it is she and I like that portrait even though she looks a bit austere. It all fits within my perception of her.
But this portrait has nothing of the air of the real one - it is too sweet and romantic... Eyes and nose too different, and the body too slender and she seems so tall...
Also,I read that it was probably taken at the time when Jane must have been too mature to look like this...
Oh, this is certainly a worrying subject...
Thank you for this post and your blog :)
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