Famous portrait of Jane Austen returning to Britain for exhibition

ONE OF the most famous images of Jane Austen, pictured, is returning to the UK for an exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the author’s death.

The James Andrews watercolour was commissioned by the Pride and Prejudice

novelist’s nephew in 1869 and will appear on the new £10 note from 2017.

But the rarely-seen portrait was snapped up by a private collector, thought to be in the US, for £164,500 at

an auction in London in 2013. Austen’s nephew, the Rev James Edward AustenLeigh, commissioned the portrait to accompany the Memoir of Jane

Austen, his influential, first full-length biography of the writer. It was based on the only confirmed portrait of Austen made during her lifetime – a sketch by her sister Cassandra, which is in the National Portrait Gallery. That portrait will also

feature in the exhibition in Winchester, along with Austen’s teenage writings and the original ending she penned for another of her great novels, Persuasion.

Dissatisfied with the original ending, Austen rewrote the chapters for the novel, which was published posthumously in 1818.

Also on show is a manuscript of a volume of writings, including a spoof

History of England, which she penned at the age of 16.

The Mysterious Miss Austen runs from May 13 to July 24 at The Gallery in Winchester Discovery Centre.