When was Mr. Darcy portrait painted? I mean, if Mr Darcy were a real person, when he would have it painted? And what about the painter?
Now I’m going to explain why I ask this question. In my spare time I am a painter therefore I’m generally interested in art. Some of the paintings seen in P&P2 have awaken my curiosity so I’ve searched the site for information and I’ve found that, while music and location are widely described, there is a lack of references regarding this aspect.
In the archives the topic has been seldom talked of. I’ve found that Georgiana portrait was based upon ‘Miss Harriet Beechey’, painted by Sir William Beechey in 1840, but Darcy’s seems a hopeless business.
I’ve seen in L&T archive some beautiful discussions about art and painters of JA times but none strictly related with Darcy’s portrait. Well, if the painter of P&P2 will remain unknown I won’t loose my sleep but I’d like to have your opinion on two more historical aspects of the matter:
1) Had JA in her mind a real portrait when she wrote the novel? I know from one of her letters quoted in this same board that she visited collections seeking for paintings that looked like the characters in her books. Maybe she didn’t find her Darcy but this shows that she knew the art and the artists of her epoch.
2) A man of Mr Darcy consequence, wealth and taste, which painter would have chosen for having made his portrait?