The Art of Cassandra Display

This seemingly modest exhibition of ten artworks is the largest-ever public display of the confirmed works of Cassandra Austen.  Not since Cassandra’s creative years in this very cottage have so many of her surviving artworks been gathered together in one place.

Jane Austen’s beloved older sister Cassandra, the recent focus of BBC drama Miss Austen, based on the book by Gill Hornby, was a talented water-colourist.

The Art of Cassandra brings together ten examples of Cassandra’s art; six of which have never been displayed publicly before. This exciting display is made possible due to recent donations and loans to Jane Austen’s House from descendants of the Austen family, and a loan from the Holburne Museum in Bath, for which we are hugely grateful.

We are delighted that this display has been curated by Janine Barchas, Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the award-winning The Lost Books of Jane Austen (2019) plus the newly-published The Novel Life of Jane Austen: a graphic biography (2025).

Through her recent research, Janine has shown that many of Cassandra’s artworks were in fact scrupulously copied from existing books and prints – a valued artistic skill before the invention of the photograph. For seven of the artworks on display, she can show matching prints or bookplates. All of this expands our knowledge of the reading habits of the Austens and the larger artistic context of drawing, reading, and music-making which surrounded the Austen women.

“Cassandra was an accomplished artist and for the Austen family her artworks were as important as Jane’s writing. Her skill was akin to Jane’s own – neat and careful, with delicacy and lightness of touch, so to see them is a pleasure in itself – but more than that, for those interested in Jane Austen, Cassandra’s artworks also remind us of the many paintings and drawings in Jane’s novels.

It is lovely to think that Cassandra may have inspired these – in particular Elinor Dashwood’s drawings in Sense and Sensibility. On moving to Barton Cottage, Jane tells us, the Dashwood women make the house a home by ‘arranging their particular concerns… Marianne’s pianoforte was unpacked and properly disposed of; and Elinor’s drawings were affixed to the walls of their sitting room’ – just as Cassandra’s artworks are today” – Sophie Reynolds, Head of Collections, Interpretation and Engagement at Jane Austen’s House.

The Art of Cassandra runs from 29 April – 8 June 2025 and is free with House entry!

An online version of the exhibition will also be available.

‘This seemingly modest exhibition of ten artworks is the largest-ever public display of the confirmed works of Cassandra Austen.  Not since Cassandra’s creative years in this very cottage have so many of her surviving artworks been gathered together in one place. Four of these were only recently discovered to exist among the possessions of Austen descendants. I’m thrilled that they will once again be displayed in the home where the Austen women lived and worked.’
– Janine Barchas, 2025