What Jane saw....

On 24 May 1813, Jane Austen visited an important and much-talked-about art exhibit at the British Institution in Pall Mall, London. The show was a retrospective of the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), England's celebrated portrait painter.

No visual record of this show is known to have survived, although it attracted hundreds of daily visitors during its much-publicized three-month run. However, many details of the exhibit can be reconstructed from the original 1813 "Catalogue of Pictures," a one-shilling pamphlet purchased by visitors as a guide through the three large rooms where hung 141 paintings by Reynolds. Armed with surviving copies of this pamphlet, narrative accounts in nineteenth-century newspapers and books, and precise architectural measurements of the British Institution's exhibit space, this website reconstructs the Reynolds show as Jane Austen (as well as any Jane Doe) saw it.

Enter the museum dear reader and friend......HERE....and try to find the painting you see above....:)
 

And then..when there's time...lets visit Jane's house...

Inelegance

"What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
- Jane Austen

have yourself a lovely and elegant weekend..

Painting~Renoir.

Easter Holiday..

There is not a lot of information about how the Austen’s celebrated the season. What little we do know is drawn from Jane’s letters and what was typical for the period. While it is assured that Jane Austen celebrated Easter, her holiday was probably a quiet one. She would have observed Lent(Easter is preceded by 40 days of fasting, known as Lent) and broken the “Fast” on Easter with a special dinner with her family. She may have dyed eggs and probably ate them in abundance once Lent was concluded. Mrs Austen is known to have had chickens at Chawton Cottage and it is unlikely that they would have allowed the eggs to spoil. Likewise, Austen mentions Lambs at Steventon, as well as Hams that her mother cured so either might have been eaten at Easter dinner. In her letters, she mentions using the Easter Holidays as a time to travel, and visiting friends along the way to one of her brothers’ houses. As a religious holiday celebrated by a religious family in the early 1800’s, it is unlikely that she ever associated the holiday with rabbits or candy.As the daughter of a clergyman, Jane Austen would scarcely have missed a service at the small Anglican Church in Steventon where her father served. She would have been intimately familiar with The Book of Common Prayer, as Her father would have used this as a guide in planning his services throughout the year.

Have a lovely Easter weekend....I am going to follow the music again the next couple of days...until we meet again...

Painting- Edmund Blair Leighton.

Pocket's

Even a bottle of gin!
In Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, of 1891, the heroine becomes so destitute that she can only find work on a turnip farm. Her companion, Marian, carries a bottle of gin in her pocket:

'Marian's will had a method of assisting itself by taking from her pocket as the afternoon wore on a pint bottle corked with white rag, from which she invited Tess to drink. Tess's unassisted power of dreaming, however, being enough for her sublimation at present, she declined except the merest sip, and then Marian took a pull herself from the spirits. 'I've got used to it,' she said, 'and can't leave it off now. 'Tis my only comfort

I am afraid I have TO MANY pockets...and strange things live in it..What about your's?

From Jane Austen's World
Take a look..a lovely site

Backwards..

"I insert here a letter of Jane Austen's written backwards, addressed to her niece 'Cassy,' daughter of Captain Charles Austen (afterwards Admiral), when a little girl.

YM RAED YSSAC,
I hsiw uoy a yppah wen raey. Ruoy xis snisuoc emac ereh yadretsey, dna dah hcae a eceip of ekac. Siht si elttil Yssac's yadhtrib, dna ehs si eerht sraey dlo. Knarf sah nugeb gninrael Nital. Ew deef eht Nibor yreve gninrom. Yllas netfo seriuqne retfa uoy. Yllas Mahneb sah tog a wen neerg nwog. Teirrah Thgink semoc yreve yad ot daer ot Tnua Ardnassac. Doog eyb, ym raed Yssac.
Tnua Ardnassac sdnes reh tseb evol, dna os ew od lla.
Ruoy etanoitceffa Tnua, ENAJ NETSUA"

Pleasant

A Piece of my life: "Some people (if not all) must step out of their luxurious or comfortable lives and experience the life of another to truly understand their original lives or fulfill their purpose"

No..Its not jane,not Emily,not Charlotte....its Everly!

The pages are still blank,but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there,written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible......Vladimir Nabokov.

Painting- Henriette Browne-

Hats

Jane Austen Society UK : Georgian Period Costumes


Hats and bonnets feature in both Jane Austen's letters and novels.

Steventon 27-28 October 1798: '...I bought some Japan Ink likewise, & next week shall begin my operations on my hat, on which You know my principal hopes of happiness depend.'

Bath 2 June 1799: '- Eliz: has given me a hat, & it is not only a pretty hat, but a pretty stile of hat too - It is something like Eliza's - only instead of being all straw, half of it is narrow purple ribbon"

nothing else to do

Jane Austen -- Letters -- Brabourne Edition: "'I have read [Byron's] The Corsair, mended my petticoat, and have nothing else to do"

(panting by Richard Miller)