There's Always a But

Iroqui the Younger was a renowned visual artist and something of a prodigy, equally skilled in oil, ink, and clay. He was an adherent of the faith and was soon attached to the primary temple The Vernal House in Atalasu City, where he lived, studied, and worked. Many of his pieces were devotional in nature and graced The Vernal House or were given to other temples as gifts.

The Royal Desire

Queen Marida (best known for being the mistress of Quade the Queen's Ferret) was taken with Iroqui the Younger's work, and she let it be known that she would like to have one in the royal collection. Her husband, King Bilro, accordingly issued an official request to Iroqui with the promise of generous compensation.
Iroqui, in the midst of a series of paintings of saints, politely declined. King Bilro repeated the request, this time less of a request. Iroqui declined a second time. The third time, King Bilro sent his message to Giloy, chief priest at the Vernal House, and made it clear that another denial would result in royal sanctions against not only the Vernal House but other temples as well.
Giloy accordingly went to Iroqui and reluctantly explained that accommodating the temporal authorities would spare spiritual authorities from difficulties. Iroqui agreed to do an ink painting, a landscape, for the queen's birthday. Giloy was relieved, the king was triumphant, and the queen was delighted.

The Delivery

When the royal birthday came, the finished painting was presented at court. As promised, it was a landscape of the palace grounds in the fashionable style. It was unboxed and unfurled in the midst of the celebrations, so that the queen could revel in her new trophy.
The painting, black ink on white silk, was a masterpiece of skillful technique. As the painting was held high and unrolled to the floor, the guests gasped in obedient but unfeigned appreciation. A moment later, there was a second universal gasp, mostly muffled.
Iroqui's brilliant brush had traced the domed twin roofs of the weapons workshops, or arzanale, which sat on the northern edge of the palace grounds, rendering accurate architectural detail while emphasizing the sweep and flow of the primary forms. He had echoed the curvature in plump fruit trees, planted in pairs about the arzanale and all laden with ripe round fruit. The whole scene was a nocturne, depicting the arzanale beneath a full moon mostly obscured by a puffball of an edge-lit cloud. It was a masterpiece of an entire landscape made of repeating forms.
The painting's title was Royal Arsenal and Moon, and no one dared to note aloud the tiniest of gaps between the written E and N.

The Painting Today

It is believed the painting is still in the royal collection, though not on display. It is still a work by Iroqui the Younger and valuable in its own right as well as with the enhancement of its context, even if the palace is not keen to display a ceiling-tall collection of buttocks.
Rumors sometimes suggest other body parts implied in the masterful rendering of nighttime landscape, but this is incorrect and, if one may, a sad case of unnecessarily gilding the lily-white butt.

Type

Statement, Artistic

Medium

Organic

Location

The Vernal House