Untitled, or Conception by Affonso Mata
1st of Sun's Swell, AE 721
Spooktober Prompt: Portrait
This untitled oil painting was painted circa AE 586 on a 20" by 16" canvas. It depicts the artist's interpretation of Prem, the deity of time, death, and inevitability, and Nezna, deity of knowledge, the arcane, and the unknown.
Nezna is pictured as a human woman with warm bronze skin and auburn hair, falling in unimpeded waves over her shoulders with the exception of a golden hair pin, decorated with a seven-pointed star holding her hair back from her right temple. She is at an angle, facing slightly to the right of the viewer, sitting on a stool with a wooden drawing table in front of her. She is dressed in a style more typical of men's fashion at the time; she wears black, knee-length trousers and a white dress shirt. All of it is slightly loose-fitting, a little bit too large for her athletic build, fabric bunching where the shirt is tucked into trousers, and trousers forced into place with a belt. Her feet are bare and the ball of her right foot is perched on a rung of her stool, while the toes of her left barely brush the grey stone floor as the sits forward over the drawing table, pencil visible in hand.
Prem sits immediately to her right and slightly behind her on a matching stool. He is an elven man with ivory skin marred by dark circles under his eyes, and long, straight black hair woven in a messy braid that hangs down his back. He leans forward in a similar position as Nezna, but rather than leaning towards the drawing table, he leans into Nezna's side. His posture is relaxed as his chin is perched on her shoulder, head tilted slightly to rest against her cheek as she similarly tilts hers to meet him. He's looking down at the drawing table, smiling just enough to bring out faint crow's feet around his eyes. His dress is more formal than hers, better fitted. White trousers are tucked into black riding boots, and he wears a white dress shirt and cravat beneath a dark, emerald green waistcoat with two rows of buttons. His right hand, the one most immediately visible, rests against his thigh while his left, barely visible and partially hidden in shadow, gently grasps onto the fabric of Nezna's shirt near her waist, held just between his forefinger and thumb.
The background of the painting appears as a modest studio, devoid of much decoration. A warm, black rug is one of the few accents, covering part of the stone floor, while the plaster wall is unadorned. Leaned against the wall are are five canvasses, backs facing the viewer. Some of them have barely visible hints of color peeking around the edges, the dark navy blue almost disappearing into the shadowed space between the canvasses and the wall.
Historical Details
Background
Nezna and Prem are the only two extant primordial deities and, as of AE 584, have a child together, which has led to them commonly being pictured together in various art mediums. Nezna is quite far from a life deity but it does not prevent artists from using her to represent creation, discovery, achievement, and contrasting her with Prem, destruction, withering, ruination. Their contrast is rarely antagonistic, more often it is presented as comfortable and friendly, if not romantic, two sides of the same coin, and such is how they are portrayed in the painting.
This piece was painted two years after Vetila, the deity of stars and darkness, was born. It is believed to be one of the first recorded uses of the seven-pointed star, seen in Nezna's hair pin, to represent them. The artist depicts Nezna creating life much in the way she is known for creating anything else: methodically and intentionally, always planning ahead. Prem, meanwhile, sits at ever at her side, not so much an active participant, but a gratified observer pleased with what he sees.
The black rug on the floor is believed to be a reference to The Gift of Time, an Elven creation legend which tells the story of how Elves came to be so long-lived. In it, a group of Elves are tasked with delivering a special canvas to Prem with a painting created by the then deity of art, Senetsal. The group initially panics when they peek at the painting and find it to be a plain black canvas, but upon viewing it in the light of Prem's domain, they find the color to not just be black but warmth, like that of a smoldering ember. Prem has long been characterized as kind and paternal by many Elven cultures, and so this allowance of life has often been compared with Vetila's birth and creation.
In response to the prompt Describe the most famous pieces of art in your world. What made them so famous?
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