Ozias Humphry, Elizabeth Craven and Jane Austen
Elizabeth Craven was painted many times. This portrait of her by Ozias Humphry (1742-1810) is one of the most fascinating images as it captures a certain shrewdness and humorous twinkle in the eye. Ozias Humphrey, self-portrait. The date of the painting was until recently uncertain, but it has now been established from correspondence in a private collection that it was done in 1782, just before Craven left England for France. Her husband never paid for it, and the bill was finally settled several years later by her brother the Earl of Berkeley. Ozias Humphry was a tremendously talented artist whose career was blighted by an accident that damaged his eyesight, and by 1797 he became completely blind. He did not spend his entire working life in England; he was in Italy from 1773 until 1777, and left for India in 1785. When we look at the high-built-up hairstyle, with a silken scarf wound into it, and the light muslin shawl draped around the ...