Jane Austen

From Pride and Prejudice- Mr. Darcy contemplates the idea of a portrait of Elizabeth Bennet.

"As for your Elizbeth's picture, you must not attempt to have it taken, for what painter could do justice to those beautiful eyes? It would not be easy to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eye-lashes, so remarkably fine,

might be copied."

I have for many years been a Jane Austen devotee. Although I now live in Dartmouth Devon, I lived for many years in Winchester, not far from Jane's home at Chawton, in Hampshire.  

The following is an outline of some of research that went into the painting.

Indeed, what modern painter could do justice to a portrait of Jane Austen? What did Jane Austen really look like?

This we shall never truly know, but not to attempt to" have it taken," not to catch the expression in her eyes,

the shape of her mouth, or the freshness of her complexion,

not to... would be lamentable indeed!