Mr Darcy, the brooding landowner who, after a series of misunderstandings, seduces the spirited Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is one of fiction’s favourite romantic heroes. This week, a rare miniature portrait of the man who some believe may have provided the inspiration for him is going on sale.
One of only two paintings known to exist of Thomas Langlois Lefroy, a 20-year-old law student who met Jane Austen while he was visiting his aunt and uncle in Hampshire, it shows an attractive and sensitive-looking young man dressed in a blue velvet jacket and white cravat. An original watercolour by George Engleheart, it was painted in 1798 and is going on sale for £50,000.
Austen was also 20 when she met the portrait’s subject, and for a blissful few weeks the young pair delighted in one another’s company, dancing and talking together whenever the occasion allowed. But their youthful flirtation was not to last. As the son of an impecunious family, Lefroy was expected to marry an heiress and as soon as his relations noticed the growing affection between him and Jane, he was whisked away from danger.
Last year, the film Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy, told the story of their relationship. Now, the sale of the miniature looks set to reignite speculation surrounding one of the only real love stories of the woman who brought so many romantic encounters to life in her novels.
The watercolour, which is painted on ivory and measures just 3 inches by 1 ¼ inches, is on display at the Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair, at Park Lane in London, from Thursday. It is by Engleheart, the great English miniaturist, and the only one which is dated and signed with the artist’s distinctive cursive E. The other portrait remains in the hands of Lefroy’s descendants. … more>>
11/06/2008...10:33 pm
Austen’s very own Mr Darcy
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