The Rice Portrait Provenance by Mrs. Henry Rice - The Rev. John Morland Rice, 1823-1897, and Admiral Sir Ernest Rice, 1840-1927
Mrs. Henry Rice continues the fascinating history of the Rice portrait with the Rev. John Morland Rice, and Admiral Sir Ernest Rice. Thank you for joining us again! Morland Rice, the sixth owner of the portrait was the fourth son of Elizabeth Austen and Edward Royd Rice, who must have been devoted, producing fifteen children in all. He was called Morland after his mother's 'dear friend from girlhood' Margaretta Morland, and received the portrait in 1883. He wrote to various members of the family about it, and was told by the elderly family historian Miss Fanny Caroline Lefroy (whose mother had known Jane Austen) that she 'knew before of the portrait in your posession, and but for one or two difficulties would have no doubt about its authenticity'. She also believed that 'the date on your picture is (she thinks) 1788 or 9, making her (Jane) not 14.' She was correct, we have discovered a date on the back of Jane's canvas of 1788, making her in that year...