#sfumatoverse

Quote from an art historian:

“Untitled” was another one of her self-potrait during her stay at White Palace. It depicted the same scene as  “A Woman Waiting In Darkness (A Self Potrait)”, although she wore a different set of clothes. It was deduced that this painting was painted long after the first one as a recalling. But some argue that this could be the unfinished version of the other one because Akagawa usually gave titles to her works.

Note from an art historian:

We previously thought Lady Akagawa stopped painting once she became the royal consort of the king. But we thought wrong. Recently we uncovered some of her works and it turns out she didn’t stop painting at least until a few years until her death.

After her marriage, her painting consisted of series of potraits from her husband’s ranks in the palace. This was probably due to her increased responsibility as a queen thus she rarely had time to paint complex painting.

A few years after her marriage she painted these two paintings and it looked like she painted it at the same time. The man “Saibou Master of Coins After Meeting” was a member of her husband’s Crown Council, Sir Mamoru Keiichi, and the man “Secret Saibou Master Archer” was a captain in Saibou Army, “B”[1]. Although the two paintings contain the word master, only “Master of Coins” was a true title. Master of Coins was a rank bestowed to the Crown Council member responsible to oversee the crown and kingdom’s currency. While “Master Archer” was Captain Kazuhiko “B” Benji’s nickname for his provision in using a bow (legend said he was invisible once he wielded his bow).

We have talked about Akagawa’s use of floriography in her works here and these paintings are another example of that. Both men had a pink rose in their background. What interest us is Akagawa’s take on this flower. After all, pink rose can be applied to both romantic and platonic feelings. Most historians took it as a symbol of their friendship. The two of them were known to be close as stated in Mamoru Keiichi’s personal records. But recently it came to light that the paintings were originally one and if they were combined then it will produce this.

Another interesting thing to point out is the name of both paintings. If we were to take both of these men’s ‘titles’ off, it will produce “Secret” and “After Meeting”. Was this a hidden message placed by the Queen herself? After all: 1.) It was no secret that Kazuhiko is called Master Archer by his peers 2.) There was no indication that Sir Mamoru was off from a meeting (the title simpy doesn’t make any sense) and 3.) Both of the paintings were originally one

But when writing that fic an idea suddenly popped up into my brain and it went kinda like this:

Brain: Yo since Ai is a painter why don’t we draw her painting?

Me: That’s a good idea, brain!!!!

Narrator: It was not, a good idea