Agintrope Portraits, The



The Agintrope Portraits are a series of seven untitled portraits by Pfeltian artist Glennis Agintrope commissioned by Agintrope's former lover, explorer Harrican Syldanade. The series, started in 1719 and completed in 1727, portrays individuals from the humanoid races discovered by Syldanade on his accidental expedition to the Gulf of Listhmene.

Historical Overview
Letters indicate that though Agintrope and Syldanade had lost contact some years before, the explorer contacted his former flame upon his return to Clampwych in 1717 to try to establish some visual identity of the discoveries he had made. By this time, the lack of tangible evidence of his discoveries and travels had been raised as an issue by many of his critics, and letters suggest he was eager to combat these criticisms.

Though he had undergone more recent expeditions, Syldanade was most excited about first documenting his visit to Listhmene, and with an agreed upon price of 75 miskva per painting, Agintrope began her work in 1719.

Description and Criticism
The seven paintings, each measuring 7 handspans by 7 handspans, are rendered on silk stretched over bone frames in a variety of plant-based dyes and other unidentified media. Though unnamed by either Agintrope or Syldanade, they are most commonly referred to by their subjects: a male, female and child from each of the two Listhmenian races (the Gretzt and the Plotzt), and a hotly debated final portrait of a naked woman in a fig forest.

Using the explorer's pamphlet Guide to the Gulf as her main inspiration and with additional guidance from Syldanade himself throughout the process, Agintrope created the seven portraits in this order:

Gretztian Child (1719) – Rendered primarily in crushed cyanweed and what Agintrope claimed was Syldanade's bathwater, this portrait depicts a small Gretztian of indeterminate sex clutching a bone and eating a twig.

Gretztian Male (1719) and Gretztian Female (1720) – Rendered also in cyanweed and other media, these portraits are identical but for the identifying yellow stripe bisecting the male's pelvic region.

Plotztian Child (1721) – Rendered in pfeltgrass mixed with ale, this formerly fragrant painting depicts a Plotztian transitioning from its larval stage to its humanoid form.

Plotztian Male (1722) and Plotztian Female (1726) – Hung side-by-side, these two paintings, rendered in pfeltgrass and other unidentified media, depict a Plotztian couple mid-reproduction. The gap in years of production is often attributed to Agintrope's hesitation to complete the pair of portraits.

Woman in Fig Forest (1735) – The final portrait in the series, painted in a variety of plant dyes, depicts what appears to be a perfectly proportioned human woman in the act of walking through a forest of fig trees. Its release was immediately greeted by an outcry of protest both by Syldanade critics and sympathizers. Its existence confirmed to the critics that Syldanade was mad and his discoveries pure invention; to sympathizers, it confirmed that Agintrope was somehow attempting to sabotage Syldanade.

When asked for official comment on the painting in 1738 upon his return from his latest foray, Syldanade merely smiled and said "The last portrait is as I commissioned it and should be considered part of my visual account of Listhmene."

"It seems unlikely that such a woman would exist in the same ecosystem as the other two races described by Syldanade and painted by Agintrope," concluded art biologist Quentin Quelfin in his 1893 paper The Agintrope Portraits: Madness on Silk. "Far more likely is the possibility that Syldanade merely enjoyed the idea of possessing a portrait of a perfectly proportioned nude strolling through a forest of fig trees, which might be his sanest decision on record."

Agintrope herself defended the accuracy and veracity of the portraiture until her death in 1808.

Valuation and restoration
In an official assessment done at the paintings' restoration in the late 1800s, the series was valued at just over 10,000 miskva; however, no buyers have expressed interest in owning the work.

All seven portraits were restored by students in the late 1800s and have since been displayed in the Hall of Physicians in Syldanade's hometown of Balinwell.