Rose Lake - painting series

The Rose Lake series is a known seriese of paintings depicting Rose Lake Temple. Out of 80 pieces two are the most famous and surrounded by mysteries and controversies.

Rose Lake no. 15

This particular piece of Siristirian art is is the most famous out of all 80 paintings. It is well known for its harmony and balance of colors and light. Created few decades after the Rapture, it went missing for nearly 70 years. Accidentally found in one of the caverns near Undar by an unknowing adventurer who then sold it for only few gold pieces to a local shopkeeper. The shopkeeper, familiar with Siristir’s greatest pieces of art, quickly made a fortune by creating a display for this piece and making people pay to see it. After 150 years of being in shopkeeper’s family the piece was stolen by an unknown burglar. Painting is still missing. Supposedly the burglar was a Keeper, but that's just a rumor. Other rumors suggest that it has been moving from one private collection to another over the last centuries. The copy of this painting hangs with the rest of the series in Museum of Siritirian Art, MSA, in the port city of Huybury.

Rose Lake no. 48

If no. 15 is the star of the show, no. 48 is the second-best out of all the 80 pieces. This piece may not have as rich of a history as no. 15, but it is still surrounded by political conflicts and controversies. Painting depicts the western side of the lake, with flowers, rocks and blooming bushes around a small beach. On a beach a green humanoid shape can be noticed. Some say it's just a person looking at something over the lake, but others say it’s a naked dancing nymph, because of the shape and color. Both interpretations make sense. The series was painted throughout several months or years and some of the pieces fit together. The shape being the person watching over the lake fits with no. 60, depicting a person looking over the lake on the other side, making two pieces a story of two lovers. However the nymph interpretation fits with no. 7, depicting a green nymph sitting on one of the bigger rocks next to the lake. To this day this disagreement is noticeable in the art world, creating two schools of thought that fight with each other. This discord forced the MSA in the past to hide the painting because of the obscenity of a naked nymph. The painting is in the MSA, on the display or in the safe, depending on the mood and political atmosphere in Siristir’s art world.