Alert Janeite Julie T. was visiting her son at the Rhode Island School of Design and visited the school’s Museum of Art, where she spotted a portrait that may just be what Jane Austen scholars have long been looking for.

(click for larger version)

Could this shaky photo, sneakily taken with an iPhone, be…the long-lost, long-sought REAL portrait of Jane Austen??? The hair! The eyes! The topaze cross! Perhaps there has been a conspiracy over two centuries to hide this portrait from public view; hide it in plain sight among the many portraits in the gallery…

The Secret Sisterhood of the Lost Austen Portrait have guarded its secret lo these many years, but AustenBlog has winkled it out! You read it here first, Gentle Readers! And there is no truth to the scurrilous rumor that this will be the subject of Dan Brown’s next book.

*removes tongue from cheek*

(And we must add that having met Julie T. for the first time at the AGM, we are all astonishment that she could possibly have adult children! She looks much too young!)

So what’s new and happening in your corner of Janeiteville? As always with Tuesday Open Threads, feel free to pimp your own websites and projects here.