Portrait of Miss Jane Reade

William Beechey, artist

1753–1839

Portrait of Miss Jane Reade, 1813

Where object was made: England, United Kingdom

Material/technique: canvas; oil

Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 213.4 x 129.5 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 84 x 51 in

Credit line: Gift of Walstein Findlay

Accession number: 1958.0126

Not on display

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Label texts

The Object Speaks

A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.
—Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813
Miss Reade poses with an elegant pedal harp, nearly ready to engage her audience with a gentle melody. Rather than accurately depicting Miss Reade playing her harp while seated, Beechey lets the viewer imagine her musical accomplishments while displaying her shapely figure to its greatest advantage.

Archive Label 2003:
Beechey was the favorite painter of King George III and Queen Charlotte, who knighted him after he produced a monumental portrait of the King reviewing troops in Hyde Park, London. Although not as technically brilliant as his contemporaries, Thomas Lawrence and John Hoppner, his works are still solid and tasteful, distinctly in the classical tradition of Joshua Reynolds.

Jane Reade was the sister of Sir John Reade, who commissioned several pictures of himself, his mother, and his sister from Beechey in the years around 1813. This portrait in particular can be dated from Beechey’s account books. Her pose with a harp has a long tradition in English portraiture.