[4] This, however, has been acknowledged by experts as a ‘poor attempt’ and was described by her niece as ‘hideously unlike’ her aunt Jane.

At the same time though, there exists many contemporary descriptions of her by friends and it was in this fact that the origin of the sculpture lies.

In 2002, David Baldock, Director of the Jane Austen Centre, commissioned forensic artist Melissa Dring to create a new portrait of Austen,[5] after reading about her work creating a likeness of Vivaldi for a film company, from eye-witness accounts.

The process was taken a step further in 2011, when the Jane Austen Centre commissioned a three-dimensional, life-size wax figure.

During the three-year process it took to create the Jane Austen figure, Richards worked closely with Melissa Dring, along with hair and colour artist Nell Clarke, and designer Andrea Galer.