The Rice Portrait of Jane Austen

We are putting the following articles under ‘opinions’ because the pictures we are putting up, though in the public domain, have never been attributed to Ozias Humphry RA officially. Therefore it is only our opinion that these works are by him, shown by his distinctive monogram, which we are presenting to you, and hopefully any art experts would find this interesting. The first miniature is a truly fascinating one of Eliza De Feullide, Jane’s first cousin. We are especially anxious to trace the owner of this charming picture, as he or she will no doubt be as fascinated as we are by our discoveries about it. The miniature was painted in Paris, circa 1779/1780, and in her book about Eliza De Feullide, called ‘Jane’s outlandish cousin’, Miss Deidre Le Faye tells us that it was painted by ‘An unknown French Artist’. We believe that it was executed by Ozias Humphry who was in Paris at this time, on his way back from his tour in Italy with George Romney. The miniature is pictured below, with what we think is his usual monogram arrowed in blue. It would be wonderful to actually see this miniature, and to talk to the owner. Please, if you are reading this, do get in touch with us.