Ghaleo Karbn
Ghaleo Karbn was a 6th AC painter who was born somewhere at the end of the 5th AC and died in the Loodon Empire's capital in 553.
Ghaleo Karbn became incredibly famous very early in his career and lived a life of wealth and fame until his last days, however, historical research many centuries later has uncovered traces of a possible fraud.
Biography
Ghaleo was born to well-to-do parents in the capital of the Loodon Empire. Having completed his studies in the school of the late Anarien Tonrne, ran after his death by several of his students. Ghaleo was the last generation of painters to have been taught the art in the Anarien tradition, as by this time Twardin Kopn's school was gaining momentum.
Nevertheless, his education secured him a number of orders in the capital. However, several of his first clients seemed to be unhappy with his work and his business has dwindled.
Then suddenly, he sold a large paining called “The Veiled Gardens”, and later a smaller work “A walking couple”. Both of these impressed the public and he became busy again. However, the style of these works not only greatly departs from the style and approach of Ghaleo's early works, it significantly departs from the Anarien tradition as a whole. In fact, the paintings exhibit features that hint that they had to be painted by completely different painters.
This early success coincides with the disappearance of Tanyr Donnan, his art mentor, who was an accomplished and mature painter, but who was old, lived alone and was at the time in relative obscurity. “The Veiled Gardens” is believed to be at least started by Tanyr, as not only does it match his style perfectly, but in 802 some of Tanyr's sketches were found, among them a sketch of what is known today as “The Veiled Gardens”. It is speculated that Ghaleo was somehow able to obtain an unfinished work from his master and felt safe exhibiting it as his own, which leads some historians to believe that he knew that Tanyr had died.
Tanyr's disappearance at the end of his life became more significant as his works were re-discovered 200 years later. Research into his life quickly uncovered the mysterious circumstances of the last days of his recorded history, and a connection with Ghaleo arose soon after.
Still, Ghaleo was clearly a gifted painter and quite a number of works right after his rise to fame are attributed to his brush. However, increasingly his popularity began to rely more on what modern historians consider to be myths, but what was considered to be true at the time.
For instance, the story of the painting which depicts the Long Corridor of the Neutral Palace and is completely in line with Ghaleo's realistic style, is embellished by an incredible story of a second painting, which allegedly depicts the dead Last Emperor and his killer walking away. According to the tale, courtiers were deeply impressed by the painting and one of the noblemen purchased it for an enormous amount of money, making Ghaleo instantly rich.
The story seemed to have been corroborated by Ghaleo's wealthy lifestyle, that he began to display after his return from the Peace Congress. However, he never identified the generous nobleman, nor has the painting ever resurfaced. In several recorded conversations, the famous painter seemed to imply that the nobleman was from Loodon and was afraid that his behavior would be considered treacherous in light of the political situation. However, that interpretation did not seem to make sense neither to some of the skeptics at the time, nor to the political experts of the era working today: Loodon Empire was a pretty liberal society and while things have deteriorated during War, nothing at the time should have hinted at the danger.
Later, Ghaleo changed his story. According to his memoir “The landscapes I've drawn”, he did not know who the nobleman was and was not able to locate him himself. Ghaleo wrote:
Many times I wished to lay my eyes on that painting, for I felt that it was one of those rare times for an artist when the muse descended into their soul to guide in creation of something truly timeless. And I wanted to experience this feeling once more. But the buyer was nowhere to be found and my letters to the North, South, East and West came back, bearing no good news.