Jane Austen – Art & Dress
The Jane Austen Society of Australia – Southern Highlands Group
Contact – Patricia Boyle – patriciaboyle@bigpond.com
The portrait of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra, is much loved even though we cannot see her face, but only her clothes.
How do we read the costumes and social symbols in paintings from 18th century Britain? Leading portraitists of the time such as Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, George Stubbs, and Angelica Kauffmann were informing us as much by what their sitters were wearing as their faces. This talk will explore how dress can be read both in literature and art.
