I’ve often wondered what Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra would have looked like as young ladies. This lovely public domain image by Paul Sandby from the Yale Center for British art gives us an idea. In her teens, Jane’s dresses would still have had waists and her hair would have been worn relatively loose and long. I envision the teen on the left with the direct gaze to be Jane – a pretty girl with round cheeks and a twinkle in her eyes, open to life’s possibilities.
Paul Sandby, 1731-1809, British, The Misses Sandby of Norwich, undated, Graphite and brown wash on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
About Paul Sandby
Paul Sandby was celebrated in his day. The innovations and subject-matter that he introduced into the practice of watercolour painting in Britain had a profound influence on artists of successive generations, including Thomas Girtin and J.M.W. Turner RA. However, from the mid-nineteenth century, Sandby’s work slipped into obscurity. – Paul Sandby, Picturing Britain
This former map-maker turned watercolor landscape painter became a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.
Jane Austen's World 
I can’t resist adding that Sandby was once a much under-appreciated artist. There was an exhibit which produced a very good book on him — do look it up; I don’t have time just now. E.M.
What a charming drawing and thank you for drawing my attention to Sandby; I had not heard of him before. Annabel
I love Yale Center for British Art. I’ll have to go looking for this there. It’s neat to show a different potential perspective on Jane’s life because she is constantly portrayed as being a woman in Regency clothing forever, when that was just a part of her life.
Very pretty! I tweeted.
I wonder if girls thought
wistfully back to the relaxed
styles of their teens, or were
they perfectly happy with waisted
dresses and pulled up hair?
Interesting!