|
Post by Bucky on Jul 15, 2014 12:59:51 GMT
|
|
DianeGretnaGreen
Commander
Anxious For Promotion
Gathers Heather for Dr. Syn (alias The Scarecrow)
Posts: 751
|
Post by DianeGretnaGreen on Jul 15, 2014 14:56:33 GMT
I came across an article on the web about 7 years ago of a portrait of a young girl and it was speculated that it may have been her.
Yours Aye,
Diane
|
|
|
Post by QueueMistressMags on Jul 18, 2014 0:56:31 GMT
Diane, I imagine you're talking about the Rice Portrait. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rice_portraitThe owners want very much to establish that it is a portrait of Jane Austen. They have managed to bring some well-known and respected Austen scholars onboard, but when the portrait was auctioned a few years ago, it failed to meet the reserve price. Apparently the provenance is still too dodgy for anyone to pay what they were asking. I wrote about it on AustenBlog at the time: austenblog.com/2007/04/20/rice-portrait-fails-to-sell/Here's another blog post you might find interesting: austenblog.com/2007/03/24/the-many-faces-of-jane/As for the wax figure, I like it, but I have no idea if it looks like Jane Austen and neither does anyone else who is alive today. I wrote about that on the blog, too: austenblog.com/2014/07/09/jane-austen-centre-at-bath-unveils-wax-figure-of-jane-austen/It's okay, it's not ugly (the forensic portrait, however, is seriously fugly), I don't hate it or anything, but I'm having a hard time getting excited about it. I'm not as interested in her looks as other people...I realize I'm kind of singular in how I enjoy Jane Austen's work. The JA Centre got a lot of attention, and that's what they wanted, so I'm glad for them.
|
|
DianeGretnaGreen
Commander
Anxious For Promotion
Gathers Heather for Dr. Syn (alias The Scarecrow)
Posts: 751
|
Post by DianeGretnaGreen on Jul 18, 2014 14:55:14 GMT
Mags:
Thanks for the update on the portrait.
To be a bit macabre, they could go and get her to get a likeness. Worked for Richard III. But, yes this would be a bit bizarre. Just saying....
Yours Aye,
Diane
|
|
|
Post by QueueMistressMags on Jul 21, 2014 18:48:03 GMT
In one of the recent bursts of media activity around Jane, when a writer opined on how she died, I pointed out we're never gonna know without digging her up, and if anybody tries, they're gonna have to go through me. I had a few Matthewses and Styleses speak up to join my crew.
|
|
|
Post by Ensign Sandra on Jul 21, 2014 19:57:05 GMT
In one of the recent bursts of media activity around Jane, when a writer opined on how she died, I pointed out we're never gonna know without digging her up, and if anybody tries, they're gonna have to go through me. I had a few Matthewses and Styleses speak up to join my crew. Yeah, there's nothing to be learned that we really need to know.
|
|
|
Post by HMS Lydia on Jul 21, 2014 22:14:56 GMT
Hmmmm...her nephew's description says that she had round cheeks, but they got slimmed down for the wax figure! Honestly. Fat-shaming people from the past? It's like in the Nautical Museum at the Portsmouth Dockyard, they have a wax figure of Lady Hamilton which is nowhere near the fullness of her later years (it purports to be her at the time of her affair with Nelson). I actually discussed it with the guy who agreed it had seemed strange to them as well. -.- Thanks for the interesting link though!
Lydia
|
|
|
Post by QueueMistressMags on Jul 22, 2014 3:07:46 GMT
Jane was actually rather slender, judging by her surviving clothing (I mean, really slender). Her face was just described as having round cheeks. I gather that she had what I would call a heart-shaped face.
|
|
|
Post by HMS Lydia on Jul 22, 2014 11:18:05 GMT
No I read that, but her cheeks look hollow on the mannequin. A friend of mine has the same kind of physique' very slim but with a heart-shaped face, and if anything her cheeks look even rounder because of her slenderness. Obviously with Lady Hamilton it was the opposite problem - in fact later descriptions of her said that ecen though sbe had put on lots of weight on her body her face was unchanged. Lydia
|
|
|
Post by QueueMistressMags on Jul 25, 2014 21:21:16 GMT
Right--I agree with you there. I felt like her face wasn't round enough.
|
|
|
Post by HMS Lydia on Jul 25, 2014 21:48:00 GMT
Apologies if I came across too strongly - I can be a bit too indignant on behalf of my historical and literary darlings. Lydia
|
|