This beautiful Victorian home in Port Gamble, Washington is stately and beautifully designed. It has not been used as a residence in many years. In 2008 a group interested in paranormal activity came and definitely felt the presence of “ghosts” in the house. Built in 1888 it was the home for William Walker, master mechanic,and his wife Emma, daughter Maude, and son-in-law Edwin Ames. The house was close to the mill so Walker was nearby in case of emergencies. Ames was the resident manager from 1883-194 and then general manager until 1931.

This is the rear of the house. It faced the waterfront to welcome ships and captains.

When I was teaching Interior Design at The Art Institute of Seattle, I had the good fortune to teach a class called Adaptive Reuse. My students had the choice of redesigning this or another structure. It was wonderful to see this elegant home come to life as a Wine Bar, a Bed & Breakfast, a Wedding site and several creative venues. It is too bad that zoning makes most of that impossible and for the most part the building sits empty and sad.

Here is a photo of the house in it’s 1888 glory time. There are no color photos from that time for obvious reasons. I love to draw historical houses and places and you will see more of these in the future.

My drawings are available for purchase at Liberty Bay Gallery in Poulsbo, or from me.

http://www.dianakingsley.net

The “Isleworth Mona Lisa”

Evidence for New Mona Lisa Mounts

What at first seemed highly improbable – even ludicrous – is now closer to becoming a reality: The evidence in favor of a second, older Mona Lisa by Leonardo is growing.

New tests and scholarly attributions are moving in favor of attributing a recently re-discovered painting to Leonardo da Vinci. Advocates of the “Isleworth Mona Lisa” claim this to be the original, painted when the sitter, Lisa del Giocondo, was in her youth.

Since the painting’s revelation in Geneva in September 2012, the Zurich-based Mona Lisa foundation has spear-headed efforts to demonstrate the painting’s authenticity (though it claims to have no financial interest in the work).

One strong piece of evidence came from a carbon-dating test performed by The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). The test results directly refute arguments that the “Isleworth Mona Lisa” is a later, 16th-century copy of the Louvre’s painting. ETH determined that the painting was almost certainly created between 1410 and 1455 (95.4% probability), and most likely between 1425 and 1450 (68.2% probability).

A second argument was made by Professor John Asmus, a nuclear physicist who conducted four tests on the “Isleworth Mona Lisa” and the Louvre’s “Gioconda.” By digitizing the brushstrokes of both paintings, Asmus determined that they would have been painted by the same artist.

Alfonso Rubino’s application of Vitruvian geometry to the “Isleworth Mona Lisa”

Further support has come from Italian geometrist Alfonso Rubino, who, after studying Leonardo’s “Vitruvian Man” in relation to the artist’s paintings, determined that Leonardo incorporated Vitruvian geometry into his other artwork. Rubino has studied the “Isleworth Mona Lisa” and concluded that its similar proportions and structure serve as incontrovertible evidence of Leonardo’s authorship.

The Isleworth Mona Lisa still has notable detractors in the world of art history. British Leonardo specialist Martin Kemp has argued vehemently against the painting’s acceptance, as has U.S. scholar Richard Spear.

You can see my artwork at http://www.dianakingsley.net

diana bennett | artist | interior designer | cook

Interior . Kitchen. Bath . Office Design & Wonderful Food.

history

Walker Ames Historical House in Port Gamble, Washington

New Evidence – Another Mona Lisa by de Vinci

Evidence for New Mona Lisa Mounts