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| The Rice Portrait |
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| "Your gown seems very pretty. I like these glossy spots" Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park |
Where C K Adams searched we do not know but it is worth remembering that this was at the height of the Second World War in an era pre-internet, pre-television and pre-mass communication.
More recently, in 1995, Professor Aileen Ribeiro of the Courtauld Institute said that the Rice Portrait "cannot be earlier than c1800 and therefore cannot be Austen as a young girl." She was not always so certain, as she acknowledged - "When asked to comment a few years ago, I noted that this type of costume, as worn by young girls, could range in date from the late eighteenth century to the early nineteenth. Now I am sure a date in the first decade of the nineteenth century is right."
These days searching for pictures is easy and a search on "Pinterest" shows pages of portraits of children in white muslin dresses.
I am not a fashion expert. But to my untrained eye, many of the dresses in portraits dated before 1800 share common features with the dress of the girl in the Rice Portrait including puffed sleeves, narrow ribbons and high waists.
I am therefore at a loss to understand how the dress in the Rice Portrait can be so categorically dated to after 1800.
Here are some examples which I have found searching online:
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| Detail from The Oddie Children William Beechey 1789 |
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| Portrait of an Unknown Girl William Marshall Craig 1794 |
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| From Portrait of the Willett Children George Romney 1789-91
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| Mary Sheppard John Russell 1792 |
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| Small girl presenting cherries John Russell c1780 |
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| Shepherd Girl (Little Bo Peep) George Romney 1778
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| Portrait of a Girl William Beechey c1790 |
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| "Pinkie" Sir Thomas Lawrence 1794
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| The Little Gardener John Hoppner c 1790 |
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| Detail from Charlotte Grenville with her Children by Joshua Reynolds c 1778 |
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| Detail from Mr and Mrs John Cunstance of Norwich and their daughter Frances William Beechey c 1786 |
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| Boy and Cat John Russell 1791 |
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| Portrait of a Young Girl John Russell c 1780 |
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| Unknown Girl Louis Ami Arlaud-Jurine c1790  Detail of sleeve compared to the Rice Portrait sleeve on the right The portrait on the left has been dated c1790 |
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| Princess Sophia Sir William Beechey 1797 |
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| The Romps William Redmore Bigg c1795 |
Collectors and experts on Eighteenth century costume Lillian and Ted Williams thought that the dress could date to the eighteenth century:
Having carefully examined the actual portrait, as opposed to its reproduction, we find several elements that clearly suggest eighteenth century dating starting in the late 1780s. We ourselves have owned several eighteenth century gowns similar to the one pictured in the Rice Portrait. In the Rice Portrait, we note the fullness of the cut of the dress with substantial distribution of its fabric around the bodice rather than trained in the rear in the later Empire style. Furthermore, the gauze gathered around the neckline – which is not discernible in many photographic reproductions – is consistent with late eighteenth century garniture. Finally, the shoes and certainly the parasol with its fringe of cut green silk are consistent with the same period. As far as dating is concerned, the width of the ribbon at the bodice is of no consequence one way or the other in our view.
In 1993 Richard Walker of the National Portrait Gallery wrote in a letter to Deirdre Le Faye that "I think the costume experts have been over-confident and the dress she wears could be of the 1790's"
Having looked at the these portraits I think that he is right - what do you think?
Thank you for reading. My next post on Deirdre Le Faye's 1995 article A Literary Portrait Re-Examined. Jane Austen and Mary Anne Campion, published in The Book Collector will follow soon.
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| Lillian Williams' 18th Century shoe collection |
In 1993 Richard Walker of the National Portrait Gallery wrote in a letter to Deirdre Le Faye that "I think the costume experts have been over-confident and the dress she wears could be of the 1790's"
Having looked at the these portraits I think that he is right - what do you think?
Thank you for reading. My next post on Deirdre Le Faye's 1995 article A Literary Portrait Re-Examined. Jane Austen and Mary Anne Campion, published in The Book Collector will follow soon.
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