Listening to “Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys adapted for BBC iPlayer…

ETA: I enjoyed listening to Adjoa Andoh read the book, she has a wonderful soothing voice.  Anyway, back to why I wrote this post.

In episode two, Antoinette Cosway names a painting she likes that bears the title “The Miller’s Daughter.”  So, with the power of a search engine, I looked up the name and I found two paintings with the same title.

 J.A. Vintner - The Miller's Daughter

By J.A. Vintner, courtesy of Art Prints on Demand

While I found two (check the other one), this one seems to match Cosway’s descriptions of “brown curls” and “dress slipping off her shoulders” the best.  However, I did not see the “blue eyes” that Cosway mentions.  The profile I linked mentioned the artist’s English heritage and Cosway labels the painting as “English.”  An interesting addition that seems to parallel Antoinette’s growing affection for her step father Mr. Mason.  ETA:  This does not last long.

However, this probably means nothing.  Wide Sargasso Sea acts as a prequel to Jane Eyre, a book published in 1847, and Vintner made this painting in 1859.

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