The Bennet girls had masters if they were so inclined. Catherine Morland liked drawing but never produced anything spetacular. Emma really couldn't finish a painting properly. Elinor Dashwood, on the other hand, did paint quite well, and her pictures decorated the cottage walls.

So, it does seem that many young ladies did have an art education... (and quite a good one) but others did not. Some men had very good art training- have you looked at Henry and Eleanor Tilney's converstations on the subject?

Seriously, drawing was often a part of the curriculum in "the best schools", of the kind that the Bingleys would have gone to. Whether that particular part of their education was any better than that of modern schools is actually hard to tell, so I'm really not sure how Mr Shanks came by his opinion on the young ladies of the nineteenth century. What I do know is this- drawing was a skill prized because, before the days of the camera, it was almost the only way for an average person to make a memory, or a souvenir, of a family event, a favourite friend, or a beloved home. The "sensibility" that came with the training in art was valued, too.

Have you found the picures in the Archives by Diana Sparling? Her book is called "Mrs Hurst Dancing" and it is the most delightful family record!