ELIZABETH CRAVEN AND HER WORLD

This stunning painting is currently for sale in a French gallery and is attributed to Sophie de Tott. It is described simply as a "female portrait" and according the sale description is identified as her work by a signature "Sophie C. Tesse de Tott" in the lower right.      Another website describes the painting as a portrait of Sophie herself but this could be a confusion. People are still so unused to female artists that someone may have jumped to the conclusion that the painter's name was that of the sitter. The costume suggests the period c.1800 when Sophie would have been aged about 42, somewhat older than the sitter appears to be. Another portrait by de Tott that is reproduced on the internet is that of Maria, Lady Crauford. This fine imposing painting was displayed at the Royal Academy in London in 1803. It depicts the sitter in the guise of a Sibyl, traditionally portrayed wearing a Turkish style turban and robes.  Maria Teresa Gage (1762-1832), wife of ...

   Stephanie Barron has brought out what must sadly be the last in her series of mystery stories featuring Jane Austen.    Her readers will not be disappointed. It is a good story that is once again based on meticulous research into Austen's life, and that of her family, friends and their connections.    It centres on Winchester College, the public school attended by half a dozen of Austen's nephews, and the son of one of her close friends friends, Elizabeth Heathcote. Like most such establishments, it was very prestigious, steeped in tradition and in many respects utterly barbaric. Boys were frequently beaten with rods not only by the masters but by the prefects, senior boys who lorded it over new arrivals and treated younger boys like servants. Pranks were the norm and even severe bullying was regarded indulgently as rough-and-tumble that would teach the boys to stand on their own feet and make men of them.     The safety standards were about as...