Is this the portrait that inspired Lydia Bennet from beloved Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice? The influential author has been dead for over 2 centuries. As with any franchise however, it doesn’t stop fans and their theories. The museum Jane Austen’s House, based in Chawton Hampshire, has purchased a miniature portrait of Mary Pearson. It’s believed Mary became Lydia in the author’s most famous work, but how?
Henry Austen – Jane’s “favourite brother” according to The Guardian – got engaged to Mary in 1796. From the outside it may have appeared a decent match. Her father was Sir Richard Pearson of the Royal Navy, who’d commanded HMS Serapis during the American Revolution (1765 – 83). Henry was in the militia, so it made sense she would gravitate toward this man of duty.
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