Closeup of the small oil painting done by my Great Great Grandmother Anna Levers King. Photograph taken sometime in the early 1900's.
This week's theme is Creativity...our family tree is certainly full of creative people on both sides! It was difficult deciding who to feature or what creative endeavor to focus on. Music? That's a big one. Working with wood and creating beautiful furniture? Designing homes and building them? Costume design? (think Nino)! Gardening? Working with iron? Cake decorating? Quilting and sewing? Building computers? Photography? Crocheting? Creating content for YouTube and Blogger? Hum...
I chose to focus on my Great Great Grandmother, Anna Levers King. She dabbled in painting as a young lady, something many middle and upper class Victorian ladies of her era did as a creative outlet. She married Charles King who was an engineer in the British Army, but who also sketched and painted in watercolors, designed houses and was a master carpenter.
This photograph was found in the King Album. It was probably taken in the early 1900's. I am not sure of the location; it could have been taken in their Golden Gate Avenue home in San Francisco. The wallpaper in the background can be found in other family pictures as well.
What caught my attention when I found this photograph in Anna King's Album several years ago was the fact that I've had the original oil painting in my possession for over 40 years! It has hung in my dining room for almost 30 years. I knew Anna painted it, but to see her standing next to it in this photograph was very special. I especially love the fur rug on the floor and the careful staging of the photograph. It almost looks like a still life waiting to be painted. I do not know who took the picture; it may have been Lester Hayes, my Great Grandfather. He was a photographer in San Francisco and had his own studio on 22nd Street in the early 1900's. The picture itself is only 7"x 8" and was painted on thin board. It is still in its original frame, and is unsigned.
My painting....the original! Some paint has flecked off on the right.
Close up of Anna's painting in the photograph....
A close up of the original painting. It looks like a church steeple in the background. You can see her brush strokes.
I love how delicate the reeds are next to the water. I don't know if she painted this from memory, or plein air, or if she created the scene herself.
I think this painting could use a good cleaning! It is over 100 years old, after all. I would love to see what the painting looked like to Anna as she was creating it. For now, I still have it hanging up in my home.
Relationship Reference:
Me->Margaret Boothby Hansen->Margaret Hayes Hansen->Emma King Hayes Van Duzer->Anna Levers King m. Charles J. King
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