There is an American girl I know who thinks she’s living in a Jane Austen novel. She might’ve been a wee bit disappointed to find out England is full of chavs and neds and not gentlemen dressed like Mr. Darcy, but that didn’t stop her delusions. Anyway, she would probably enjoy the Blanton Museum of Art’s on-line gallery called “What Jane Saw”, which recreates an important social event in British art history. Jane Austen and many others visited the first-ever retrospective exhibit of the work of Sir Joshua Reynolds at the British Institution in Pall Mall, London in 1813. You can check out the catalogue, move around the floor plan, and click on individual paintings to find out more information on them. You’re probably wondering why the University of Texas at Austin has reconstructed this exhibit? First of all, no visual record survives, even though it was well-attended and widely puplicised; second, it can be considered the first modern museum blockbuster; and lastly, the artwork of Reynolds greatly influenced Austen’s fiction. For more details on this act of time travel, please click here or read this New York Times review.
Blanton Museum of Art’s on-line gallery “What Jane Saw”
