简·奥斯汀(Jane Austen，1775年12月16日-1817年7月18日)是英国著名女性小说家，她的作品主要关注乡绅家庭女性的婚姻和生活，以女性特有的细致入微的观察力和活泼风趣的文字真实地描绘了她周围世界的小天地。
Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the most famous of all English novelists, and today her novels are more popular than ever, with several recently adapted as Hollywood movies. But we do not have many records of what she looked like. For a long time, the only accepted image of Austen was an amateur sketch of an adult Austen made by her sister Cassandra. However, recently a professionally painted, full-length portrait of a teenage girl owned by a member of the Austen family has come up for sale. Although the professional painting is not titled Jane Austen, there are good reasons to believe she is the subject.
简·奥斯汀是最有名的英国小说家之一。时至今日，她的作品变得更受欢迎了，有数部被好莱坞改编成电影了。但是对于她的长相却没有太多的记录。很长一段时间以来，唯一被认可的奥斯汀的画像是她妹妹卡桑德拉画的。但是这幅成年奥斯汀素描并不是出自于专业画家。然而，最近一副奥斯汀家族成员持有的画像想要出售。这幅出自专业画家之手的全身画像上面是一个少女奥斯汀。尽管这幅专业画作上并没有写有简·奥斯汀，但是我们还是有足够的理由相信画上的人就是她。
First, in 1882, several decades after Austen’s death, Austen’s family gave permission to use the portrait as an illustration in an edition of her letters. Austen’s family clearly recognized it as a portrait of the author. So, for over a century now, the Austen family itself has endorsed the claim that the girl in the portrait is Jane Austen.
首先，在1882年，在奥斯汀去世几十年后，奥斯汀家族曾经授权这幅画作为她出版的书信集上本人画像。奥斯汀家族当然能够确认这幅画就是作者。所以，一个多世纪过去了，奥斯汀家族还是为这幅画背书，认为这个女孩就是简·奥斯汀本人。
Second, the face in the portrait clearly resembles the one in Cassandra’s sketch, which we know depicts Austen. Though somewhat amateurish, the sketch communicates definite details about Austen’s face. Even though the Cassandra sketch is of an adult Jane Austen, the features are still similar to those of the teenage girl in the painting. The eyebrows, nose, mouth, and overall shape of the face are very much like those in the full-length portrait.
第二，这幅画上人物的面容和卡桑德拉画的那幅画很相似，而卡桑德拉的画作上的人物确定是奥斯汀。尽管卡桑德拉的画作略显业余，但是还是很好地描绘了奥斯汀面部的细节的。尽管卡桑德拉的画描绘的是成年简·奥斯汀，但是面部细节还是同这幅画上少女奥斯汀非常相似的。眉毛、鼻子、嘴和整个轮廓都跟这幅全身画作非常相似。
Third, although the painting is unsigned and undated, there is evidence that it was painted when Austen was a teenager. The style links it to Ozias Humphrey, a society portrait painter who was the kind of professional the wealthy Austen family would hire. Humphrey was active in the late 1780s and early 1790s, exactly the period when Jane Austen was the age of the girl in the painting.
第三，机关这幅画没有署名也没有日期，但是确信这幅画的绘制时间是奥斯汀少女时期。这幅画从风格上看是奥扎厄斯·汉弗里的作品。他是一个专门受雇于奥斯汀这样富有家族的上流社会肖像画家。汉弗里活跃时期是1780末到170年初，而这个时期恰好正是简·奥斯汀十几岁的时期。
