A portrait of Jane Austen is to go on sale at Sotheby’s on December 10, after being held in the Austen family collection for 144 years. Although the painting itself has very seldom been seen by members of the public, it has become the definitive image of the renowned nineteenth century novelist. It is to be offered in the auction house’s English Literature & History Sale.

Austen is one of the most highly regarded figures of English literature, most well known for her critique of high society in works such as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Sense and Sensibility (1811) and Emma (1815). This portrait was commissioned by her nephew Rev. James Edward Austen-Leigh to accompany the biography, Memoir of Jane Austen.

The watercolour was based on the only confirmed portrait of Austen completed while she was alive, a study by her sister which is now housed in the National Portrait Gallery's collection. It was painted by James Andrews, a local artist who was personally familiar with the author.

It is this portrait that will be reproduced on the new Bank of England £10 note from 2017 onwards, coinciding with the author’s centenary. The decision to print Austen on the note followed a high-profile national campaign against the replacement of social reformer Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note with wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The proposed absence of female figures on any English currency sparked the online petition, led by journalist Caroline Criado-Perez and signed by 35,000 supporters.

James Andrews, “Jane Austen,” 1869, 10 December 2013, Sotheby’s London, est. £150,000 - £200,000