FFXII fic: Portrait of...
Dec. 30th, 2006 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonsheenFFXII. Random backstory. An excerpt from the thesis of art history major Tia Grenace, who thought that paintings from the Archadian Empire would be an easy grade...
One of several surviving portraits done under examination for entrance into the Grand Archades Akademy for the Fine Arts, notable for its experimentation in a more natural medium during a period in which synthetic paints were very much preferred, as evident in the particular richness of hue. As with all surviving entries, the artist is unknown, identified only in the number by which his application was presented to the Akademy’s Board of Submissions. The subject presents a greater mystery: House Dular was a prominent in this period due to numerous contributions within the upper tiers of the Archadian military, yet no ‘Drucilla Dular’ is listed in its very well recorded lineage.
One might assume then that the name is a fabrication: invented to give the artist the extra credibility afforded by a more prestigious sitter, a practice not uncommon among the viciously competitive Akademy students. Yet there are certain aspects of authenticity that call this theory into question. The subject is no doubt presented here as a woman of the gentry class, her hair and the patterning of her gown match clearly with the predominant fashions of the upper class in that decade. This is an easy aspect to emulate, however the details on the woman’s rings are telling: the pattern engraved on the center ring bears the crest of the House Sevaro, a family of some earlier repute, a startlingly accurate portrayal of the engagement practices among higher gentry before the 7th century; when such rings were to fall out of fashion. Official documents kept on the Sevaro prior to its fading from prominence (in favor of less traditional and more enterprising families such as the infamous House Bunansa) make reference the heir’s second marriage in 683, making such an earlier union very much possible: the name of woman involved in this first marriage is curiously unmentioned, in an era when such bits of information were in everyone’s best interest to keep.
This omission of a name from state documents appears similarly only in few other circumstances. Firstly, there is the case of the retroactive removal of an individual of some controversy from historical record, a practice not unheard of but certainly not common or easy during the height of the Archadian information bazaars. Secondly, in the case of one with a strong military career, being promoted past the necessity of a prior identity, such as that found within the highest offices of the Ministry of Law, such as the Judge Magistrate itself. Taking into account that 670 was a year of very little internal strife within the Empire, and the fact that the painting has survived in part due having been kept for many years locked in the well guarded archives of the 9th bureau … the obvious conclusion must be made as to the potential identity of our Drucilla Dular.
One of several surviving portraits done under examination for entrance into the Grand Archades Akademy for the Fine Arts, notable for its experimentation in a more natural medium during a period in which synthetic paints were very much preferred, as evident in the particular richness of hue. As with all surviving entries, the artist is unknown, identified only in the number by which his application was presented to the Akademy’s Board of Submissions. The subject presents a greater mystery: House Dular was a prominent in this period due to numerous contributions within the upper tiers of the Archadian military, yet no ‘Drucilla Dular’ is listed in its very well recorded lineage.
One might assume then that the name is a fabrication: invented to give the artist the extra credibility afforded by a more prestigious sitter, a practice not uncommon among the viciously competitive Akademy students. Yet there are certain aspects of authenticity that call this theory into question. The subject is no doubt presented here as a woman of the gentry class, her hair and the patterning of her gown match clearly with the predominant fashions of the upper class in that decade. This is an easy aspect to emulate, however the details on the woman’s rings are telling: the pattern engraved on the center ring bears the crest of the House Sevaro, a family of some earlier repute, a startlingly accurate portrayal of the engagement practices among higher gentry before the 7th century; when such rings were to fall out of fashion. Official documents kept on the Sevaro prior to its fading from prominence (in favor of less traditional and more enterprising families such as the infamous House Bunansa) make reference the heir’s second marriage in 683, making such an earlier union very much possible: the name of woman involved in this first marriage is curiously unmentioned, in an era when such bits of information were in everyone’s best interest to keep.
This omission of a name from state documents appears similarly only in few other circumstances. Firstly, there is the case of the retroactive removal of an individual of some controversy from historical record, a practice not unheard of but certainly not common or easy during the height of the Archadian information bazaars. Secondly, in the case of one with a strong military career, being promoted past the necessity of a prior identity, such as that found within the highest offices of the Ministry of Law, such as the Judge Magistrate itself. Taking into account that 670 was a year of very little internal strife within the Empire, and the fact that the painting has survived in part due having been kept for many years locked in the well guarded archives of the 9th bureau … the obvious conclusion must be made as to the potential identity of our Drucilla Dular.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-31 03:08 am (UTC)Ooh. Very subtle and ominous, and oddly romantic.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-31 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-31 05:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-31 04:55 pm (UTC)-- "ART??"
-- "History! It's reputable.")
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN READING
Anyway this is beautiful, and a million times more awesome than anything lower-div classes used to make make ME read.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-02 02:14 am (UTC)