Jane Flavell Collins, Court Artist Who Sketched Whitey Bulger, Lori Loughlin, Dies At 84
BOSTON (CBS) - Jane Flavell Collins, a court artist known for her sketches of Whitey Bulger, Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman and the Boston Marathon bombings trial, has died, according to her son Peter. She was 84.
Federal courtrooms don't allow television cameras inside, so whenever there was a hearing or a trial, WBZ-TV and other Boston television stations hired Collins to draw sketches of the proceedings.
She drew Whitey Bulger at his trial in 2013 and later told the Boston Globe he had "wonderful even features and a perfectly shaped head."
Collins most recently sketched actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli when they appeared in federal court in Boston in August 2019 in their college admissions scandal case.
Her talent extended well beyond the courtroom. She had a website full of paintings, portraits and watercolors she created over the years.
Collins graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and earned a scholarship to study in Italy.
She grew up in Rockland and lived in Duxbury for years. Her husband Peter Collins died in 2019. Her sister also did courtroom sketches before her death in 2016.
Jane Flavell Collins leaves behind a brother, three sons and six grandchildren.