Portrait of Ega Vevso

Summary

Ega Vevso was a painter and imagofist whose talent was was acclaimed throughout the Queendom of Leland. One day he was hired to paint a portrait of Queen Mayeba Ahyen. It should have been one of the crowning achievements of his career, but the queen was displeased with his work, claiming he had failed to capture her true essence within the painting. She publicly doubted his ability to properly capture the spirit of any subject.
Shamed and disgraced, Vevso withdrew to his mountain estate in the Newcord Peaks where he vowed to prove her wrong. He painted portrait after portrait, often forcing his house staff to sit as subjects. Rooms of the mansion became filled with portraits of various styles and degrees of completion. His frenzy slowed as he began a self portrait, one he would spend the last three years of his life obsessively painting over and over until almost an inch of paint clung to the canvas. Guests and staff told him the portrait was incredible, his best work yet, but he continued anyway, insistent that he had yet to properly capture his own spirit.
One evening a servant brought dinner to Vevso's studio only to find him slumped over in his chair, dead. On the canvas in front of him was the self portrait, the paint seeming to ripple. In fact, the very image of Vevso seemed to move as if it were very much alive. Vevso had put so much of himself, his energy, into his Flux work that he had transferred his being into the paint. His lips moved, but he made no sound. His eyes were open, but he could see nothing.
The house staff, fearing that the insanity of their master and his eventual fate was due to evil spirits, burned the house down with Vevso's body and portrait inside to cleanse the world of the evil and free Vevso's soul. Some say, over the sound of the burning house, Vevso's laughter could be heard, gleeful to have finally proven Mayeba wrong even at the cost of his life.

Historical Basis

Ega Vevso was a real artist who lived during the fifth century whose paintings have been praised for both technical and enmantic artistry. There is some evidence that he was commissioned by Queen Mayeba to paint a portrait, but there is no indication that the portrait was ever actually completed or that Mayeba ever publicly criticized his work. Vevso's home did burn down, but there is obviously no way to prove the staff's claims about the portrait as it would have been reduced to ash in the fire.

Date of Setting

489

Spooktober 2022: Portrait