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The Many Faces of Jane

"As to my aunt's personal appearance, hers was the first face I can remember thinking pretty. Her face was rather round than long, she had a bright, but not a pink colour a clear brown complexion, and very good hazel eyes. Her hair, a darkish brown, curled naturally, it was in short curls around her face. She always wore a cap."
Recollections of Aunt Jane by Caroline Austen

There are numerous “portraits” of Jane Austen available, some more accurate than others. Unfortunately, only one of these, a watercolor sketch by her sister Cassandra, has ever been authenticated.

Cassandra’s Sketches

While it may disappoint some viewers, this watercolor sketch is the most accurate likeness to be found with Austen family features clearly visible. Cassandra was an accomplished artist and while this portrait, estimated to date from around 1810, when Jane was 35, is certainly not flattering, it cannot be assumed to be unrealistic despite her niece, Anna Lefroy’s opinion, written in the 1860’s, that the portrait is “hideously unlike.” Ever since, fans have sought some alternate view. The sketch, roughly the size of a playing card, is part of the National Portrait Gallery, London's collection.

Another watercolor sketch exists and is signed and dated, “C.E.A. 1804” It is of a young woman with her back to the viewer. Though no face is visible, Jane’s niece, Anna Lefroy, referred to it as “a sketch which Aunt Cassandra made of her in one of their expeditions—sitting down out of doors on a hot day with her bonnet strings untied.”

The Silhouettes

Though unable to be absolutely proven as Jane Austen, the silhouettes are probably the most recognized pictures of Jane, today. As the story goes, in 1944 a silhouette of a young woman was found pasted into a second edition of Mansfield Park with the handwritten inscription, L’aimable Jane. Assuming that no other Jane would be called such, it has been taken for a true likeness. Thin proof, indeed.

The other, just as ambiguous, is thought to be a self portrait done by Jane in about 1815.

The Clarke Watercolor

This 19th Century Portrait claiming to be of Jane Austen was painted in 1815 and discovered in the exceptional "Liber Amicorum" (Friendship Book) belonging to the Rev. James Stanier Clarke, the Librarian of the Prince Regent (later King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland). Clarke was a competent, if amateur, watercolourist whom Jane Austen acknowledged as her friend in the last letter she wrote to him in 1816. While it cannot be firmly identified as the author, physiognomists who have studied Cassandra’s portrait identify the sitter as the same person appearing in Clarke's watercolor.

The Rice Portrait

The members of the Rice family are descendents of Jane Austen's brother Edward. They came into possession of this portrait in 1883. It had been passed down through several branches of the family and was originally the possession of Francis Austen, the wealthy uncle and benefactor of Jane's father. The family tradition is that it is a portrait of Jane Austen, the author, but some academics cannot agree. It is generally agreed that this a portrait of a Jane Austen but not the Jane Austen. That it portrays a Jane Austen from our Lady's family is also thought to be the case. The problem is that some experts believe that the gown would not have been worn before 1805 when Jane Austen was about 30 and the portrait is obviously of an adolescent girl. Thus, a special committee of the Jane Austen Society, along with the Jane-Austen scholar R. W. Chapman recommended that the family traditions be set aside.

A more complete look at why this portrait is probably not authentic can be found at Tilneys and Trapdoors

The Victorian Drawings

The black and white portrait (1) seen so often is actually an adaptation of Cassandra's 1810 portrait. It is a steel- engraved portrait by the famous engraver Lizars taken from a likeness (2) drawn by a Mr. Andrews of Maidenhead. It was originally used as a frontispiece to 'A Memoir of Jane Austen'her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh, published in 1870 by Richard Bentley.

The artist has evidently tried to enhance Jane's features, possibly to make her more appealing to Victorian Audiences, but the finished article bears little resemblance to Cassandra's sketch and does not give the impression of a 35 year old woman.*

An even more unbelievable portrait was adapted from this likeness during recent years. The colors are really quite shocking.

Modern Adaptations

Tom Clifford’s recent painting tries to take into account Cassandra’s portrait as well as the written accounts of her likeness when working on this picture. This artist chose to place Jane in the west garden at her home in Chawton, near Alton, in Hampshire.

Another portrait hangs in the Jane Austen Centre and shows the author in Bath during her residency there in 1804. This Jane is contemplative as she stands in front of the distinctive white limestone buildings of the Royal Crescent.

In 2002, the Jane Austen Centre unveiled it’s most recent likeness of the author. The artist, Melissa Dring was trained at the Royal Academy Schools, London as a portrait painter, and as a Police Forensic artist by the FBI in Washington, USA.

She was commissioned by David Baldock, the Director of the Jane Austen Centre, Bath, to produce a new portrait of the author, as she might have appeared during her time in Bath, 1801-06.

In creating this work, Ms. Dring explains, “The natural starting point, then, had to be Cassandra’s sketch, which I reversed, as I decided to have Jane looking the other way, and also I needed to make her look a few years younger. Cassandra drew Jane at 35, and I had to make her aged 26-31, during her years in Bath. Above all, though, I wanted to bring out something of Jane’s lively and humorous character, so evident in her novels and all contemporary accounts of her. Cassandra’s drawing may have been quite like Jane physically, but has failed to catch her sparkle.”*

Other artists have also tried to catch Austen’s sparkle and vitality. One of these, Jane Odiwe, has created an entire sketchbook of vignettes from the author’s early life. The portrait contained in Effusions of Fancy shows a young woman of breeding and spirit with a slight smile for the world. Her newest portrait, that of an even younger Jane, is based in part on the Rice portrait, combined with the face we know from Cassandra’s sketch.

In the end, we may never know exactly what Jane Austen looked like—but that cannot keep us from enjoying her letters and works, and without a photograph we are free to shape her into our own vision of “Jane.”

From the Jane Austen Centre’s Magazine, Jane Austen’s Regency World, A New Portrait of Jane Austen.

Other text compiled from quoted sources, as well as Jane Austen’s World by Maggie Lane.