A letter dating from before Fresser's exile. The correspondent
is otherwise unknown.
Dearest Treibonus,
I hope your exile in the pestilent backwater isn't weighing too
heavily on you. How are things in Pavis? Tragic news here in Glamour. The painter
Scriptonis has died leaving his masterpiece unfinished. Priests and priestess were
instructed by Moonson himself to try and resurrect him so that he could finish it but
after much effort and at least one death from among their own number they were forced to
report to Moonson that his soul was nowhere to be found. The rumour spreads already
that his soul went into his masterwork as his life surely did. I'm sure you know who
and what I'm writing about but just in case you don't I will refresh your memory.
No offense but you have never struck me as the cultured sort so
forgive me if I bore you too much. You know the imperial galleries where the
greatest masterworks extolling the virtues of our great empire and emperor reside?
Many of these works hail from Jillaro of course. Well the new centrepiece of the
great collection now is of course the painting, Glory of the Empire. And how could
it not be? The greatest painting in all of Glorantha I am sure. 52 meters wide
and seven meters high. With an astonishing and breathtaking degree of detail
depicting the history of the empire from the Birth of the Goddess to nearly the present
day. I know of heroes of the empire who have seen the painting and been stunned to
see their own exact likeness in the painting despite never having sat for the artist.
Certainly an inspiration of the Goddess herself
Alas, never to be finished now. They have already removed the
scaffolding and allowed the public in. They have had to hire special Uz attendants
to watch the gallery patrons lest they become lost in their admiration of the painting.
The Uz are immune to the painting's glories due to their poor vision but they have
had to be carefully trained to recognize the signs of what is being called "painting
absorption". The first day the whole painting was revealed to the world they
discovered that people can lose all acknowledgement of the world around them, lost in
trying to take in all the details. I imagine the poor fools would have starved to
death. Painters have been denied access to the gallery after the first three
suicides. Guards have to manage the long lineups and the Teelo Norri sisters feed
and look after those who now permanently live in line.
None of this is surprising considering that the artist himself had
to have attendants at all times to ensure that he kept himself fed and watered. I
can remember going to the gallery while Scriptonis was alive and realised that he was
totally engrossed in his work. His attendants could wash and feed him and he would
totally ignore them. He voided his bowels and urinated without any thought and they
were forced to keep him and the gallery clean. He was totally oblivious to anything
other than the painting itself. The gallery was kept lit and heated at all hours and
he normally painted nude so as to make keeping him clean easier. He had no interest
in food or sex and was fed a watery but nutrious gruel contrived by Beat-Pot Aewlrin
himself. He would not even acknowledge the presence of Moonson himself! And
Moonson tolerated this!
An amazing character, Scriptonis. He was born in a Teelo Norri
orphanage and at an early age he was found to be prodigiously talented at art. He
was sent into fosterage with the one of greatest artists of Jillaro, Kitaris the Sketcher
for formal training. Not that he needed much training. It is said that Kitaris
took one look at Scriptonis' merest sketches and broke into tears. Both for the
beauty of the work and the fact that he, in his greatest finished work could not attain to
such beauty.
It is said that during his career, Scriptonis never finished a
single work yet what he did do was so beautiful and skillful that he won the admiration of
all and envy of many. A mere sketch from his hand can make your heart break with longing.
It is said that he never finished any works because he was searching for a subject that
was worthy of his talents. He finally found it at the age of 16 when Moonson who had
seen his earliest work personally commissioned him to paint a history of the Empire.
At first the painting was going to be a large mural but then
Scriptonis switched to a canvas. He consulted with no one about the topic or the
matter, not even Moonson who trusted him implicitly. At first the canvas was to be 3
metres by 8 metres but Scriptonis' inspiration drove him to ever bigger canvases.
Finally the Imperial College of Magicians had to be commissioned to come up with a
magical means of supporting such a huge canvas. It took Scriptonis twelve years to
complete just the cartoon. That's what the preliminary outline sketch of a painting
is called.
A special gallery had to be constructed to house it, itself a
masterpiece of architecture that all ignore in favour of the glory of the painting.
Scaffolding was erected as I mentioned earlier. It is said that Moonson has
made a special pact with the Young Elementals so that neither fire, nor earth, nor air,
nor water, nor darkness could damage the painting but I doubt this is true. A
special ramp has replaced the scaffolding allowing access to the entire painting.
Special magical lenses allow close inspection despite your distance from the
canvas.
What is it about? Well, as I wrote earlier it starts with the
Birth of the Goddess and proceeds from left to right depicting events in Lunar history.
It is said that Scriptonis had little formal education yet no scholar has been
found who can give fault to his sequence or depiction of the events. But the true
mastery of the painting is to be found in the detail. Every square centimetre is
covered by images. Just yesterday during my allotted hour at the canvas, Moonson
having decreed that no one is allowed longer access due to the danger, I was entranced by
a small protion of the canvas that depicted mice having a picnic!
So as I said, a tragedy. After 71 years of work it remains
unfinished with a corner of the painting remaining nothing more than the cartoon.
After much consultation with experts from Jillaro and elsewhere Moonson has decreed
that like the Empire the painting will remain unfinished. And already the rumors
spread that as each year unfolds the painting finishes itself slowly!
Yours as always,
Fresser
This page last modified January 16, 2003
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