Jane Austen Up For Grabs

On 19 April, Christie’s New York is to auction the controversial Rice Portrait of Jane Austen (named after a previous owner: Henry Rice, a great-great nephew of Jane Austin). It is expected to fetch between $400,000 and $800,000, but Coxsoft Art's guess is that it could go higher than this, due to its historical importance and the controversy surrounding it. Jane was probably 14 when this portrait was painted, an idea supported by her lack of bust (don't think of plump modern schoolgirls, who are reaching puberty two or three years earlier than did previous generations). Click the title link for details.