Velut Luna - A Tribute to Sibilla Cumana

[bobinder]

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'In the still air of the hot night, the moon seems the only thing alive, from the profiled edge of the mountains she seems to rise shining like a seabird that’s breaking from the shell in which she’s been hidden. Her faint light spreads across the plain, shadows that at first enwrapped the sleeping landscape in a veil of grey become black, objects take shape within the rays of the silvery moon.'
(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna.)

Velut Luna brought us some of the most exciting stories ever to have appeared on Cruxforums. She proved to be a remarkably talented writer, sharing her passions and fantasies in such an engaging way, that the reader feels privileged to experience her adventures, through the writing which now constitutes her legacy. That legacy remains undiminished by time.

Luna joined Cruxforums on 20 March 2014, having made a number of previous visits as a guest on the site. Two weeks later, she began her first major story, 'The Devil in the Convent.' This was concluded on 3 July 2014, and three days later, she started her 'Amica' story thread. 'Amica' was published over the course of the following year, being completed on 22 July 2015. Her third major story, 'Histoires de Luna' was started in May 2016, but remains unfinished since, sadly following a period of serious illness, Luna made her last visit to Cruxforums on 19 September 2016.

During the two and a half years that Velut Luna was with us, she presented four further threads of short stories and poems, 'Lyrics', 'Sibilla', 'Sybilla Oracle' and 'Stella', plus Eulalia's translation of Curzio Malaparte's 'Mermaid for Breakfast', in addition to the major works listed above. Whilst highly regarded as an accomplished author, Luna's charming personality ensured that she was a valued and well-loved member of Cruxforums. Her popularity as a contributor is currently endorsed by a remarkable post : likes ratio of 1 : 11.

The following links provide access to Luna's threads on Cruxforums. Additionally, 'The Devil in the Convent', 'Amica' and 'Histoires de Luna' are available in PDF form in the forum archive -

The Devil In The Convent

Mysteries of Naples The Devil in the Convent true story of Nuns of Sant' Arcangelo a Bajano a trial of the Inquisition in the sixteenth century Naples is the most mysterious city in Europe, and the only city of the ancient world that has not perished like Troy, or Nineveh, or...

www.cruxforums.com

Amica

AMICA The slavegirl of Pompeii Curses and Smoke Her name was Amica (loved girlfriend) and her name and footprint are embedded in a terra cotta tile alongside her girlfriend Detfri. The signed tile is a rare find, as Amica was a Roman slavegirl and not only her name, but a tangible imprint...

www.cruxforums.com

Histoires De Luna

Here only the incipit of a new story I'm thinking on, but I publish it at the end of my Amica story. Forbidden Games 'Look at that mess! Look at what a mess these photos! Where's your head! I've told you a thousand times that you have to watch where I tell you, not the air, in a vacuum...

www.cruxforums.com

Lyrics

DIANE The green graces undress In fairy forms exalt Wild fantasy From sparse reeds Diane appears In a gossamer dress of light In her mystic ice she blinds RED FIRE I appear at the door In a dress of red To tell that I am fire Raging and consuming A thorn has pricked me Of your red rose...

www.cruxforums.com

Sibilla

Sibyl I look beyond the gates of the night of your soul. The mist rising from the lake d 'Averno draw ghosts. Your fate is written on leaves that the wind confuses.

www.cruxforums.com

Sybilla Oracle

Sybilla Oracle You can ask to the Sibilla Cumana her Oracle for the future. Think a question (only in your mind don't write it) and after ask for: 1 Daily Oracle Once a day you can ask writing 'day' in your post or in a PM 2 Number Oracle Once a day you can ask writing a number from 100 to...

www.cruxforums.com

Stella

The events described actually happened two weeks ago. The characters belong to the real world. The names have been changed except my. Only the nightmare is a dramatization of probable facts. Stella This nightmare will never leave me, it keeps coming back like a ghost, haunting my spirit...

www.cruxforums.com

Do Mermaids Really Exist?

We all know that a mermaid is a sea creature with the head and torso of a woman and the tail of a fish. The question is, are mermaids real or just fiction? We humans have been fascinated by mermaids for a long time. A few hundred years ago, the myth of beautiful semi-human women living beneath...

www.cruxforums.com

I am indebted to Eulalia for her help and enthusiasm in collaborating on this thread, and I am delighted that the resulting retrospective celebration of Velut Luna is a joint effort by the two of us. Nobody was ever closer to Luna's stories during their development, since Eul was instrumental in the roles of consultant and editor, in addition to translating Luna's Italian texts. Their close friendship is celebrated in 'Amica', and Eul has often reiterated the sense of privilege felt by somebody who becomes so closely involved with another person's writing.

This thread is dedicated to Velut Luna

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[Eulalia]

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I

Velut Luna joined CruxForums on March 20th 2014. I noticed her striking avatar straightaway, and was intrigued by her member-name, anyone using a phrase from a song of the medieval ‘wandering scholars’ was surely a kindred spirit of mine! That sense was quickly reinforced by her self-introduction on ‘New Here’,

New Here

Sicut Sol, velut Luna (like the Sun, just so the Moon)

and, after I'd responded to that,

New Here

In obscurity,
Veiled,
Now for play
I bare my back
To thy cruel pleasure.

Wow! I thought ...

So I was very happy to get a PM a couple of days later, telling me with her characteristic blend of charm, bubble and bluntness, that she’d been visiting CruxForums, she’d read some of my poems and liked them, she learns verses of poets to help her write short lyrics of her own, but she barely knows any English, would I help her if she sends me some short compositions?

In fact, she’d already started a thread, Sibilla, in which she’d begun posting some of her ‘short compositions’, which belied her modesty about her English, and showed she had a real feeling for poetry – certainly a kindred spirit, I was happy to agree!

Sibilla
Sibyl I look beyond the gates of the night of your soul.
The mist rising from the lake d 'Averno draw ghosts.
Your fate is written on leaves that the wind confuses.

So began a collaboration which proved for me one of the most fulfilling and enjoyable experiences of my life. From the start, it was never a matter of simple translation from Italian to English, or merely ‘correcting’ Luna’s delightfully anarchic English. The poems she sent me turned out to be in the style of – in some cases, quite close adaptations – of the ‘hermetic’ Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti – at that time just a name to me, and a challenging poet, to say the least.

Poesie di Giuseppe Ungaretti

Together, we took her lyrics apart, discussing individual words and phrases, their connotations and symbolic resonances in Italian, seeking out not ‘English equivalents’, but the words that would best parallel those complex layers, and trying, not to replicate, but to echo, the assonances and rhythms that hold a verse together and let it flow. Our discussions were often long and lively, Luna had strong views about what she wanted to say and how she wanted it to sound, and I welcomed this, for me as an editor in ‘real life’, she was just the kind of author I most enjoy working with. The first two products of this promising partnership Luna posted on the Sibilla thread, a few more on:

Lyrics

And of course there were many more poems to come, more of her own, others by the major Italian and Classical poets she’d been studying in her degree course, just completed with (needless to say) highest distinction, incorporated into her stories. Our shared love of words and language was of course a strong bond from the outset, wrestling with these fascinating short lyrics had established a way of working together that we both wanted to continue. Naturally I was excited when she announced, after only a week, again with aplomb, that she was ‘going to write a novel in the coming months’

 

[Eulalia]

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II

The ‘novel’, it soon transpired, was motivated by what Luna revealed to me was her bitter dislike of nuns, going back to an incident when, as a bright, mischievous and somewhat precocious 11 year-old she had been humiliated in front of her classmates by a teacher in a religious order. It was to be based on (supposedly) historical events that took place in the early seventeenth century in the convent of nuns of San’Angelo in Baiano, at that time a suburb of the Spanish-ruled city of Naples. This scandal has ‘inspired’ a couple of ‘nunsploitation’ films, ‘Le Monache di Sant'Arcangelo’ 1973 (‘Sisters of Satan’ in UK, ‘The Nuns of Saint Archangel’ in US), and ‘Story of a Cloistered Nun’. But Luna’s brilliant twist on this story was to intertwine it with the alarming adventures of a present-day archaeologist, Dr Lucy, very much Luna herself – not only is the Evil One at work in 17th century Naples, he takes possession of Dr Lucy’s computer, with terrifying consequences for her!

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Of course I was fascinated by her ideas, which rapidly took shape over a few weeks in April 2014. She showed a talent for imagining herself, and leading the reader, into places in the past – not simply describing, but conveying the atmosphere of the shadowy cloisters, the neighbouring church, the narrow alleyway and, most sinister of all, the secret underground passage, between the two. She obviously knew this corner of Naples well, it had been her nearest city throughout her life up to that time, she had been a student at the university there for three years. She showed me old maps and engravings (some of which appeared with the story when we published it), and soon we began to find ways to draw readers into what, in the quotation from Curzio Malaparte she used as her epigram to the story, ‘is the most mysterious city in Europe ... not a city: it is a world. The ancient world with its pagan customs have remained intact on the surface of the modern world. You cannot understand Naples, nor will you ever understand Naples...’

Luna brings old Naples vividly to life in ‘The Devil in the Convent’, yet she conveys its deep mystery, its fascinating shadows, its ever-present dark side. Its language too - I was delighted, if flummoxed, when she sent me her first draft for the opening passage, in which Dr. Lucy breaks through a wall, reveals the hidden passageway, makes her intrepid entry and suddenly comes out with a string of expletives in Napolitana, a language at least as far from standard Italian as Glaswegian is from Standard English. Another opportunity for us to enjoy our shared love of words!

For me, the liveliness of the dialogues in her stories was among Luna’s strongest talents, the snatches of Napolitana in The Devil in the Convent are a special part of that vigour. The way of working together that we’d begun to settle into with her poems developed as we put the new story together. We still had plenty of debates about individual words and expressions, but also how much I needed to ‘correct’ Luna’s own English version. Her narrative passages in all her stories tended to come as a bubbling cascades of vivid images and twists and turns of the plot – she had contempt for commas, full points were irritating stumbling-blocks. I haven’t read enough Italian literary prose to know how typical such loose chaining-together of clauses is in that language, perhaps rather more so than in English (outwith the writings of James Joyce), but even in Italian, Luna seemed at the outer edge – no doubt if she’d been telling the story orally, I can imagine that punctuation would have been provided by the rich repertoire of Italian hand-gestures! For the sake of English readers, I imposed a little discipline on this cascading stream of consciousness, but I tried not to diminish the lively character of both her narrative and the passages of dialogue (often in play-script form)

‘The Devil in the Convent’ is certainly intense reading, there are steamy erotic passages of both mixed-sex and same-sex pleasure, of kinky, vanilla (and Neapolitan!) flavours, as well as hard accounts of cruel tortures and humiliating abuse. She gave me, as Eulalia, a role, or rather two roles – a present-day big sister/ fairy godmother/ femDom character, and a ‘big Sister’ in the convent up to my wimple in devious, dirty deeds – I was tickled, she enjoyed teasing me! But she was happy with what we produced together. As the ‘novel’ took shape and began to appear on the Forums, I was still feeling my way, becoming more confident in turning her wonderfully creative storytelling into enjoyable English, and having a great time working with her. ‘The Devil in the Convent’ earned plenty of views, likes and appreciative comments, members evidently recognised that Luna had brought a new, vibrant voice to our Forums.

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[Eulalia]

III

Even while we were shaping the early chapters of ‘The Devil in the Convent’, Luna hinted that she already had another story in mind, about two slavegirls in Pompeii at the time of eruption of Vesuvius. She gave a few more hints as time went on, showing me her initial inspiration, the poignant tile (actually found in 1975 at Pietrabbondante in Molise, across the spine of Italy north of Naples, not in Pompeii) where a couple of slavegirls had planted their feet and written their names in the fresh clay before it dried in the sun.

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As soon as ‘The Devil’ was finished, she asked me if I’d like to help her with this new work, which, she assured me, ‘is more short than “Devil”'. I chuckled at that, but of course was very happy to go ahead. I knew from her first draft of the opening scene that this was going to be an epic, in many senses.

It’s still hard to say, as I re-read that magnificent opening quite why it grips me by the throat, it’s a sense of opening up, rising to a new level in Luna’s imagination and writing. Maybe, while ‘The Devil in the Convent’ had been catharsis, exorcising her pent-up anger at that unpleasant teaching nun, this was going to be mimesis, bringing into new and real life a whole ancient world that been part of Luna’s own mental environment throughout the first twenty years of her life (I should explain that ‘Mimesis and Catharsis’ had been the topic of her highly lauded graduation dissertation) – not merely uncovering the light and darkness of the past, but living it vividly with all the senses - it felt, and still feels to me like a move from walking to dancing.

She had already told me a lot (and said a little on public threads) about her hometown. Although she was proud to call herself a Napolitana, her home was the ancient town of Cuma, some ten miles west of Naples and close to the cave of the Sibyl where Aeneas was granted access to the underworld of Avernus in the Aeneid, and where Amica and Fannius would consult the oracle in her own epic. She always identified with the Sibyl, hence her honorary title on the Forums, Sibilla Cumana. The character of Amica is herself a prophetess, albeit a captive shaman princess from the Land of the Midnight Sun, and allusions to her Sibylline powers – far-seeing, yet doomed – are repeated leitmotifs throughout the work.

But the stage for her wonderful drama extends around the whole Bay of Naples – vivid descriptions let the reader see, feel, hear and smell the Campi Flegrei – the area of constant turbulence with its foot-burning soil, boiling springs, smouldering fumaroles and solfataras belching evil-smelling steam, and the splendid sweep of the Bay from the Admiral Pliny’s naval base at Misenum round to the headland of Sorrento and the island of Capri – then as now, playground of the hugely rich – all dominated by brooding immensity of Vesuvius.

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And in the shadow of the volcano, Pompeii, where Luna must have walked again and again as a child, girl and young woman and imagined herself in its broad streets, narrow passages, grand houses, shops, slums, even its brothel. She knew the place like home, she was fully familiar with its history and with the latest archaeological findings, though she didn’t always feel bound to pedantic accuracy.

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[bobinder]

'My skin is white, pale as moon, and Luna is my name.'
(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna,)​

Velut Luna's 'Amica' is a masterpiece of historical storytelling, reflecting the author's love of ancient Pompeii and bringing the Roman town to life through the characters who interact with the protagonist, Amica, the slavegirl of Pompeii.

Amica is the personification of Luna, and throughout the first person narrative, Velut Luna expresses the joys, sorrows, hopes and fears of a soul at the mercy of fortune. She is a priestess of the moon as well as a princess of the far northern land of Thyle, but following a violent upheaval resulting in the deaths of her entire family, she is sold into slavery and finds herself in a strange Mediterranean world. She adapts quickly to a wide variety of circumstances and forms an early close friendship with Eulalia, an educated Greek slave, who teaches her Latin and Greek.

The bond between the characters of Amica and Eulalia is relevant to the production of the story, since Velut Luna's translation from her Italian manuscript was ably assisted by our own Eulalia, both members having become good friends through Cruxforums. The close friendship is reflected through their characters in the story, and through the expression of their shared interests in history, science and literature.

The e-book is in the forum library, but the story thread contains insights by Luna, Eulalia and other members, as well as revealing the great delight which Luna took in the light-hearted comments which her text inspired. During the two and a half years that she was active on Cruxforums, Velut Luna demonstrated a remarkable talent for highly descriptive and emotive writing, which continues to captivate the reader's imagination. 'Amica' is much more than an exceedingly good crux tale and a historically accurate account of the last days of Pompeii and Herculaneum: it is an experience in which we can immerse ourselves, and to which we may return constantly. I have visited the thread several times, and I am grateful for the wonderful legacy which Luna and Eulalia have provided.

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[bobinder]

Drawing on the works of several Italian authors, especially Curzio Malaparte's descriptions of the Bay of Naples, its islands and hinterland, Velut Luna conveys her love of Italian literature as well as the history, archaeology and geology of the Neapolitan region where she was born and grew up - although she moved away soon after she joined us on Cruxforums to begin her career, her heart was in her hometown of Cuma, close to the cave of the Cumaean Sibyl, hence her title on Cruxforums, 'Sybilla Cumana'.

Luna's poetic descriptions are presented with a depth and beauty which make them a delight to read. The action in the story is recounted vividly. If Velut Luna felt inspired to write 'Amica', then what she has written is nothing short of inspiring. An accomplished crux writer like Wragg seems lost for words in a succinct review of 'Amica' which states, 'This is an absolute epic, a tremendous read. If you only read one story, read this one.' And so we read, and we understand exactly what he means.

The richness of Luna's visual imagery is unquestionably inspiring. Not only are the sights and sounds of ancient Pompeii revealed, Luna gives us the entire sensory experience - the taste of the food and wine, the smells of the sea, the volcanic sulphur fumes, the feel of a lover's caress. And it seems remarkable that relatively few visual artists have attempted to depict the story. Of course, Luna's writing is so effective at captivating the imagination, that further interpretations may be considered superfluous.

However, @madiosi presented three manipulations based on the text. The first is an adaptation of 'Ulysses and the Sirens' from the 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse. This shows Eulalia tied to the mast of the Minerva, and reflects Amica's nightmares and fears about the dangers attending Eulalia's voyage to Athens, following their final parting. Coincidentally, Waterhouse is also the artist who painted 'St. Eulalia', depicting the martyrdom of the saint, although his Eulalia has no connection with 'Amica'.

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Madi's second picture illustrates a scene in Rectina's villa at Herculaneum, in which Amica is comforting Rectina when her sleep is disturbed during a violent thunderstorm. His third image depicts the dramatic eruption of Vesuvius during the final crux scene. This picture employs Cruxdreams' Sasha in the role of the crucified Amica, and reflects the composition of Luna's own manip in which she portrays herself using the Romanian model, Ana-Maria Ilinca ('Aisii' on DeviantArt and elsewhere) -

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The right hand portrait of Ana-Maria in the two comparison pictures (above) is by her husband, Daniel Ilinca, a professional photographer (Idani Photography) and is the image which appears in the title picture at the start of this thread. Ana-Maria and Daniel Ilinca have their own galleries on DeviantArt, a site which provided Luna with a large number of the pictures which she posted in her threads on Cruxforums -

Aisii - Professional, General Artist | DeviantArt

Check out Aisii's art on DeviantArt. Browse the user profile and get inspired.

www.deviantart.com

idaniphotography - Professional, Photographer | DeviantArt

Check out idaniphotography's art on DeviantArt. Browse the user profile and get inspired.

www.deviantart.com

The original paintings by John William Waterhouse - 'Ulysses and the Sirens' 1891, and 'St. Eulalia' 1885, to which reference is made above -

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[bobinder]

Velut Luna was a visual artist in the style of writers who illustrate their stories on Cruxforums. Not only did she demonstrate her photo manipulation skills, but she created at least two 3D pictures of Amica for her story, using a DAZ Victoria 4 figure model produced by Ascanio. Luna was in contact with Ascanio at this time, and their common language facilitated the discussion of technical details. Needless to say, Ascanio took a great interest in 'Amica', commenting enthusiastically on Luna's pictures, 'My free V4, You have a great talent!'

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The first of Luna's 3D images shows Amica in Lucius' villa, the House of the Faun, where she is initially employed as a slave. As with all of the locations referred to in the story, this is an authentic house, the remains of which can still be seen in Pompeii. Luna was very familiar with the excavated town and loved to imagine life there in ancient times. Beside the pool with the statue of the dancing satyr, the house slave Udij embraces Amica on her return to Pompeii following a stay at the Quarto villa. The second 3D image shows Amica relaxing on the terrace of Fannius' villa, on the slopes of Vesuvius between Oplontis and Herculaneum, with the island of Capri in the background.

Luna portrayed her 3D Amica with the blonde hair, blue eyes and other features consistent with the northern girl of her written description. Having arrived as a slavegirl in Pompeii, when Lucius examines his prospective purchase,
'He touches my silver-blonde hair, looks in my eyes as blue as the sea, evaluates my profile, my lips, my mouth. His hands completely enclose my small breasts, his gentle caress excites the swollen areoles. He puts his hands on my hips and my buttocks. My legs look slender, my pelvis well formed, although tight, my teeth healthy.'

Whilst the 3D figure has shoulder length hair, Amica is described as having long, blonde hair -
'I just kneel on the stone seat, untie the knot of red ribbon that holds back my hair, my hair tumbles down to my buttocks.'

Notably, her face, with full lips and a slender nose, bears a certain resemblance to Ana-Maria Ilinca, confirming Luna's identification with this particular model.

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[bobinder]

Nymphea​

In the first of her poetry threads, 'Lyrics', Velut Luna presents the short poem, 'Nymphea', with a heading picture of Ana-Maria Ilinca. In confirmation of her identification with this model, Luna concludes her poem's theme of self-awareness with the revelation of her own appearance, which bears a remarkable similarity to Ana-Maria (Aisii) -

NYMPHEA



A wreath of fresh thoughts
Shines in the flowery water,
She's aware that she's naked,
Nothing more than pearl
Even the statues are troubled,
Without shame, for a moment, she shows herself,
And here appears my real face!

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Of course, Luna was not actually showing her 'real face' in a public thread, and the portrait she presents at the end is of the actress, Ashley Greene. But the actress' resemblance to the model with which Luna identified so extensively confirms Luna's self-image and appearance to a large degree, the implication being that she looked like both of them.

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[bobinder]

Luna's connection with the visual arts is reflected in the character of Amica, who takes up painting whilst convalescing from a period of illness -
'My only pleasure is painting, I look at the flowers and feel a desire to fix their images on these thin wooden tablets, with the most beautiful colours I can make from powders mixed with oil.'

Luna explained that this was inspired by real life events in which a friend took up painting during a period of recuperation following a coma. Further artistic references in the story mention that Amica's portrait was painted by Rubio, who later employs her as a model whilst she is hiding in his studio. Luna provides us with an example of Rubio's work, portraying Amica in the role of a fantasy warrior -

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The slender figure with blonde hair is once again consistent with Luna's visualisation of Amica. During the same period of the story, Luna presents a second fantasy image which is representative of Rubio's work. This one shows two women - the same model - back to back, one blonde and one dark haired. The picture title in the thread is simply, 'Luna'. The significance of the light and dark themes for the character of Amica is symbolic in reflecting the first and second halves of the story.

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This 'Luna' image is actually the first picture ever posted by Luna on Cruxforums - she presented it in 'New Here' following her arrival as a new member to the site on 20 March 2014. It seems to have been one of her favourites.

Luna presents us with a number of images of a female with long, dark hair, notably Aisii, but Amica is very definitely blonde in the story. With long, blonde hair, Amica enjoys life in Pompeii - she is looked after, she makes good friends, she falls in love with Fannius. She is valued and appreciated, she finds a precious gem on the beach, she learns Latin and Greek from Eulalia, and something of astronomy in the sundial chapter. We delight in discovering ancient Pompeii through her eyes and experience. The future looks bright for the happy, blonde Amica.

The turning point comes when Eulalia's fortunes change for the better. Their final parting marks the start of a decline in Amica's fortunes, although she remains adaptable and she is always a survivor. In hiding, she disguises herself by dying her hair black, and she becomes a tragic heroine. Luna makes a symbolic distinction with the hair colour, reflecting the waxing and waning of fortune in the first and second halves, respectively, of the story.

Elsewhere on Cruxforums, Luna posted further pictures of Ana-Maria Ilinca, often in cruciform poses -

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Whilst Ana-Maria has the very pale skin attributed to Amica, she has dark hair and brown eyes. Apart from the second half of the story, spent in disguise with her hair dyed black, Amica has blonde hair and blue eyes, and so it is Luna's 3D renders which provided her with the opportunity to present an accurate visual depiction of her blonde character. It is also worth noting that Luna's story starts with a reference to a real person named Amica, whose footprint and inscription are preserved in an ancient Roman roof tile found during archaeological excavations.

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The roof tile is significant to Luna's inspiration in creating her character. She developed a life story for this once forgotten girl, and projected herself into her character to create a beautiful work of literature combining fantasy with authenticity. Through the story, Amica becomes as real as Luna herself.

 

[bobinder]

'Luna is my name' 1​

The variety of themes in Luna's story is so rich and diverse that no single image can hope to epitomise 'Amica, the slavegirl of Pompeii'. Nevertheless, the story inspired my artistic imagination, and so I considered how I might create a suitable tribute for the fifth anniversary. Sadly, Velut Luna is no longer with us. Following a period of serious illness, she was last seen on 19 September 2016, and so my picture would be presented essentially as a memorial tribute.

Throughout the first half of the story, Amica is very happy in Pompeii. Luna loved Pompeii - it was somewhere she could express herself in her writing, whilst objectively exploring the frailty of the human condition. Early in the story, Amica describes herself, explaining her original name as a priestess of the moon -

'My skin is white, pale as moon, and Luna is my name.'​

This simple phrase captures the defining moment when author and protagonist identify as one. Filled with reason and resonance, it provides a starting point and title for my picture. Luna's personal model of choice, Ana-Maria Ilinca, would portray her character. I visualised a composition to include the moon, Pompeii and Amica - three key story elements with which Luna identified.

The figure of Amica would occupy the centre foreground with Pompeii in the background and the moon overhead. This would be a nocturnal scene, presenting a full moon over the Vesuvian landscape. The starting point was a modern night photograph of Vesuvius.

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Initial modifications altered the aspect ratio and composition, ensuring that the mountain would be visible on the left. The contemporary city lights and reflections were deleted by digital overpainting, and new clouds were inserted to disguise the mirror image effect in the sky.

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A full moon was inserted on the right, with a soft corona, created in four layers of varying opacity. The new clouds received lunar highlights and the moon was reflected in the sea in a further seven layers, again of varying opacity. The result employs artistic licence in moving the suitably reduced lights of ancient Pompeii much closer to the slopes of Vesuvius than the town is in reality, in order to avoid them being concealed by the central figure of Amica. In fact the location is more appropriate for the harbour town of Oplontis (now Torre Annunziata) although this was somewhat smaller than Pompeii. The background was completed in 21 layers in Photoshop, and represents the view of ancient Pompeii/Oplontis, seen across the bay from Sorrento.

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Coincidentally, in her earlier story thread, 'The Devil in the Convent', Luna posted a picture of the view from the home of her character, Dr. Lucia (Luna) in Naples. I was unaware of this picture during the time I developed my original background concept, and when I saw it, I was impressed by the similarities. Luna's photograph shows a nocturnal view across the bay, the hazy night sky punctuated by the moon, reflecting in the sea on the right, and Vesuvius rising from the horizon on the left. The composition of Luna's picture provides a remarkable concurrence with the details in my background, confirming that my manipulation concept was developing in the right direction.

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[bobinder]

'Luna is my name' 2​

The figure of Amica was created in two Photoshop files. The major components of these, plus the file for the background were transferred to a fourth Photoshop file for final adjustments. The figure employs the face of Ana-Maria Ilinca. The eyes have been moved to engage the viewer directly, and their colour changed to blue.

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The upper body and hair components were sourced from two further models. The hair, derived from Femjoy's Yana, is composed of 24 separate sections in individual layers.

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The leather slave collar helps to disguise the join between head and body, and the dress was constructed in six visible layers using slave clothing components sourced from 'Spartacus' publicity stills. Further layers provide appropriate shadows for the collar and clothing to ensure consistent lighting of the figure. The final assembly, trimming and colour adjustments were carried out over an enjoyable period of eleven days, and the finished picture contains 74 visible layers.

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Whilst my portrait of Amica does not attempt to depict any particular scene from the story, I hope I have captured an image which compliments Luna's wonderful writing. I feel very fortunate in discovering so many clues left by Luna regarding her visualisation of Amica, as well as the image she identified with personally as the slavegirl of Pompeii. I hope I have portrayed her in a way she would like.

 

[bobinder]

Eulalia the Greek Slave

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'You take me with you into a nice room with paintings on the walls. The walls are tinted red, the wooden bed is covered with colorful cushions. You caress my face, brushing aside a lock of hair that's escaped the ribbon holding the ponytail. Your dark eyes are exploring the transparency of mine, your smile reassures me. You give me a kiss on the cheek, your hands are now caressing my arms, with your right hand resting on my bosom you say: 'Amica', then bringing it to rest on yours, 'Eulalia'.
I am your servant, the slave of a slave.'
(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna.)

The character of Eulalia makes her first appearance early in the story. Amica is entrusted to the care of Eulalia, an educated Greek slave, who explains to her the role of a slave girl in Lucius' house. Amica is eager to learn from Eulalia, and is soon able to communicate in Latin and Greek. The friendship between the main characters reflects the exchange of ideas between Luna and Eulalia, as author and editor respectively. for the development of the story.

Whilst the depiction of Luna's character, using Ana-Maria Ilinca, constitutes a recent development in my artwork, the character of Eulalia is quite well established in visual terms. I have previously illustrated her in a number of stories, using Alice as the model, and this pattern is continued in 'Amica', much to Eul's delight.

The background is an interior of the Roman villa reconstruction at Aschaffenburg in Germany, known as the Pompeianum. The bright decor has been muted in my manipulation, by adding a transparent, sepia tint, suggesting a very old and slightly faded colour photograph.

Several domestic interiors at Pompeii are reasonably well preserved, although showing the effects of two thousand years of aging as well as immersion in pumice and ash from the volcanic eruption which ensured that very preservation. In contrast, the Pompeianum is a relatively recent structure, which was fully restored following bomb damage sustained during the second world war. Consequently, it is a wonderful source of backgrounds for ancient Roman domestic interiors, and has also been employed in manipulations by Wragg and Kamerijk.

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For my picture, I visualised Amica's first sight of Eulalia. And so we see Eulalia casting an appraising eye over the newly arrived slave girl, at their first meeting in Lucius' villa. The figure of Alice is sourced from Alexey Bessarab's 'Adorable' series for Amour Angels. The first version of my picture presents the original nude figure with the addition of a leather slave collar. The dress was added in four pieces, copied into a single layer and set to 90% opacity, so that the form of the breasts helps to define the shape of the translucent material. The colour of the dress was adjusted to harmonise with the surroundings. Components for both the dress and the collar were sourced from 'Spartacus' publicity stills.

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[bobinder]

Greek Slave Variations by Kamerijk and Damian​

Within a few hours of my picture of 'Eulalia the Greek Slave' being published on DeviantArt, Arkady Sviatchennik (Kamerijk) felt inspired to create his own version, entitled 'Greek Slave'. He recognised the Pompeianum interior in my picture, and he has employed Alice previously in his own manipulations. In a very short time, he combined his chosen Pompeianum interior with a figure of Alice from the title image of Rylsky's eponymous 'Kiss' series for Met Models.

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The theme evidently made quite an impression on Arkady, since this was his first published manip on DeviantArt in fourteen months. As a comeback to his popular genre of slave girl illustration, his picture was received to deservedly high acclaim and it provides us with a further illustration which is entirely suitable for Velut Luna's 'Amica'. This is doubly appropriate for Arkady because Rylsky's 'Kiss' series was originally presented as a 'Special Encore' for Alice in December 2009. And so, his manip presents two comebacks in one picture!

Arkady's modifications to the source figure include deleting the navel jewel, changing the necklace and adding a loincloth in a pale mauve colour, presumably inspired by the colour of Alice's veil in the 'Kiss' series. Following Baracus' expression of disappointment that only the upper part of the loincloth was visible in Arkady's picture, I reproduced the item in full on the original Rylsy photograph.

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The 'Greek Slave' manipulation theme was taking off in ways I could never have predicted when I composed my picture of slave girl Eulalia. The next variation of Arkady's picture appeared just a few hours later from that highly accomplished master of photo manipulation, Damian - presented, as he says, 'With my compliments... lovely girl.' Damian provided Arkady's picture with a lower extension to accommodate the complete loincloth, and in the process, he returned the jewel to Alice's navel.

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There is something slightly remarkable in three established Alice manipulators feeling inspired to present their interpretations in such rapid succession - all within twenty four hours. It seems to say much for the popularity of both the theme in general and this subject in particular.

 

[bobinder]

Slavegirls of Pompeii

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'Soon we are at the Temple of Fortuna Augusta on the left of the Via Nolae. We turn towards the arch of Drusus and the Via Augustea. People who bow, greeting Lucius, look with inquisitve glances towards us slaves as we enter under the great portico of Macellum market-place. To our right stands the Temple of Jupiter, then passing the Temple of Mercury we come to Calcidicum, also known as the Cryptoporticus (covered passageway) of the Eumachia (priestess of Venus).'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna.)

Amica's first sight of the Pompeii Forum comes shortly after disembarking from the slave ship, when the newly arrived slaves are being delivered to the house of their new master, Lucius. The following day, Amica returns to the Forum, accompanied by Eulalia, the Greek slave she has recently befriended. The two slavegirls of Pompeii are now attending on Lucius during a visit to the local philosopher, and we encounter them en route to the Eumachia building, with the Temple of Jupiter in the background.

This manipulation combines the figures of Amica and Eulalia which previously appeared as individual portraits. The moon makes an appearance again, as a symbolic emblem for Luna. The background is a computer-generated reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter in the Forum - a location which assumes greater significance towards the end of the story. Amica's early days in Pompeii are spent happily engaging with the other characters and making new friends. In a scene at Lucius' house, Amica entertains Eulalia and Udij, the black slave who comforted Amica during the voyage on the slave ship, when they were bound together by their wrists and ankles -

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The manip is based on a detail from a 'Spartacus' screen shot, considerably enlarged, with new faces and blonde hair inserted for Amica and Eulalia. The models are Ana-Maria Ilinca and Alice, the latter courtesy of Alexey Bessarab's 'Adorable' series for Amour Angels. For a manip with only fourteen visible layers, it required extensive balancing of individual components for colour and contrast adjustments, as well as filter treatments, to achieve a consistent effect of subdued, indoor lighting.

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Another charming portrait from the same series by Alexey Bessarab provides the source for Eulalia in an elevated location overlooking Pompeii and the adjacent harbour town of Oplontis. Whilst no particular scene from the story is illustrated here, the CGI reconstruction of Pompeii and Vesuvius was too good to ignore, and it makes a nice companion portrait to the nocturnal one of Amica ('Luna is my name') which also shows Vesuvius in the backgound.

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A variation of 'Luna is my name' shows Amica in the fading light of a sunset and her lunar emblem appearing as a crescent moon. The unified colouring was achieved by using transparent layers with red and sepia tints.

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[Eulalia]

IV

Once again, I was drawn into deep discussions about language and languages – this time beginning with Oscan, the ancient sister-language of Latin preserved in a few inscriptions and in the slave-name Detfri scratched along with the Latin Amica on that foot-printed tile. There’s a lot of Latin in ‘Amica’, from the thundering hexameters of Virgil to graffiti on the brothel wall, from the Sibyl’s riddles to the jingles of the Goliards.

I was introduced to a lot of fine Italian writing too, some of which Luna drew upon in her own writing – the ‘purple passages’ describing the Bay are (she was quite willing to admit) taken pretty much from her favourite Malaparte – but she can claim good precedents for such borrowing, in the works of Pound and Eliot for a start, and her use of such quotations seems to me entirely appropriate in their contexts.

And we explored and debated all manner of details of daily life in the time just before the great eruption of 79AD – feminine matters like hairstyles, toiletries, clothes, cookery and the like I have to admit took up rather more of our conversations than the armour and weaponry that tend to get most attention on the Forums! But Luna also had what I think is an especially Italian enthusiasm for architecture, her best girl friend at school and university was a trainee architect, I heard much of how the two of them were busily scheming improvements to the family house Luna’s mother had lately inherited, the same attention to details of buildings and sense of space had already been apparent in ‘The Devil’ and is very apparent in her imaginative reconstructions of the grand houses, public buildings, and poorer and shadier places too, in and around Pompeii.

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This architectural enthusiasm was part of a wider fascination with space and time. Luna came from a family with evident scientific strengths, as well as literary. Her account of the sundial is the symbolic centrepiece of the drama, in which the rigid certainties of a world-view centred on a mechanical concept of the workings of the universe, and a concomitant resignation to the star-governed workings of Fortuna, are unsettled by the information brought by the strange shaman-slavegirl from the north, and the insight of her mentrix, the Greek slave from Athens named Eulalia.

Crediting ‘me’ with the wisdom of Copernicus in the generation before Ptolemy was perhaps stretching flattery into the realms of fantasy – not that some intelligent slave-woman in that era wouldn't have been capable of holding such a radical view of astronomy, but not this one! Still, the role Luna gave ‘me’ in ‘Amica’, again as a kind but firm guide and rock of support, brings me joy – of course it’s very much an ideal ‘me’, but I’m glad Luna saw me that way.

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[bobinder]

Mysterious Nautilus

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'Then we go down to the harbour. To the great distress of Rectina, we realize that the sea has washed away most of the sandy shore and the long quay. There were no boats moored there at the time, but many others, surely ones belonging to fishermen of the Herculaneum nearby, are scattered wrecks and shredded sails.

I bend down to pick up the shell of a nautilus, empty, wrested from the depths of the sea by the stormy waves and hurled onto the black sand among the pebbles laid bare by the storm.'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna.)

Amica witnesses the effects of a destructive thunderstorm during her stay at Rectina's villa in Herculaneum. Whilst surveying the damage on the beach, she discovers a white nautilus shell which has been washed up on the shore. She is fascinated by the mystery of its appearance, the empty chambers no longer occupied by a living creature, and the sound she hears when she holds it to her ear. The mysterious, skeletal shell seems to contain a living voice, and it provides the inspiration for one of the poems she writes to Eulalia.

So on this lonely shore
I come to meet you.
Scattered along the shingle strand
lie shells with their rosy lips
shape in the sand
a skeleton so white
mysterious nautilus
its shell worn so
by time and the waves
if it's held close
your priestess ear divines
among the scattering echoes
whence comes the voice
that silences your heart
then, if you search that sound
the echoes sing
entwining with your fears
of what you hear
now only now
will speak the oracle
that whispers in the shell
sea in the shells speaks
with the voice of its god.​

The empty seashells on the beach are compared to mouths, 'with their rosy lips' and the sound of the nautilus shell assumes the qualities of an oracle voice speaking. The poem reflects Amica's sibylline qualities, and begins with the prediction that she will come to meet Eulalia 'on this lonely shore.' The significance of these opening lines will become apparent only at the end of the story.

The poem is beautifully crafted with a continuous ebb and flow; a rhythm of the sea breaking softly on the sand before receding to build the following wave. Similarly, the repetition of soft 'c' and 's' consonants in the carefully chosen words evoke the sounds of the sea, a sense of tranquility and a soothing promise of reunion.

Whilst Eulalia's character is the intended recipient of the poem in the story, as Luna's translator and editor, Eulalia was closely involved in its creation. The poem is actually based on one by Curzio Malaparte. Like the rest of the story, Luna's original draft was in Italian, and the choice of English words owes much to Eulalia's poetic style and interpretation.

The manipulation concept for 'Mysterious Nautilus' combines a black and white portrait of Ana-Maria Ilinca with a seashore background. A fine day follows the stormy night, and the breakers are hitting the beach energetically. The location is actually futher north than Herculaneum, but the composition is intended to reflect my earlier nocturnal portrait of Amica. And so, Vesuvius has been inserted on the horizon to the left, and the half moon, reflecting the shape of the white nautilus shell, appears in the sky on the right. The spray bursting over the rocks balances the composition by echoing the form of the mountain - a visual device which only became apparent after I added Vesuvius.

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Not for the first time, I discovered that there was no colour version of the Aisii portrait available, and since the expression was perfect for Amica's sense of wonder at her discovery, I decided to adapt the monochrome image. This involved repeated, selective colourisation processes for blending into the bright, sunlit background. Most of those repeated processes were focused on changing the hair from black to blonde. The loose strands are preserved around the outside edge by making further colour adjustments in sympathy with the background colours.

The left hand was duplicated and flipped to provide the right hand, and then disguised by changing the forefinger orientation and reversing the play of light and shadow in the interests of consistency. Further selective adjustments of brightness and contrast, together with extensive use of the dodge and burn tools helped to create the illusion that Amica is actually holding the inserted nautilus shell in both hands. The completed manipulation contains twenty four visible layers. A variation of the picture employs a sunset background with transparent layers in red and sepia tints, and is arguably less successful in terms of the lighting than the original bright, blue sky version.

The scene in which Amica goes down to the beach after the storm provides something of a defining moment in the story, marking the beginning of a shift in the fortunes of both Amica and Eulalia. As a dramatic device, it is one of many, but it is so subtle that it is most likely to be missed on first reading. Nevertheless, I feel it is sufficiently important to justify the effort involved in creating a picture which is probably my most Symbolist manipulation to date.

 

[bobinder]

To Survive in this Hell

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'The heat of summer, worse than it's been for years, with the exhausting work, have reduced me to a ghost of myself, my skin marked by countless lashes, burnt and wrinkled by exposure to the sun. I still walk with difficulty, though a little better than before. I don't know how I've managed to survive in this hell.'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna.)

Towards the end of the story, Amica is captured and imprisoned with a group of Christian slaves. She is sent to work in a labour camp, where the slaves produce the bricks and tiles used for building projects in Pompeii. The camp makes a direct link with the introduction, since this is where Amica and her friend, Detfri, mark a roof tile with their names, inscriptions and the imprints of their wooden shoes, before allowing the soft clay to dry in the sun.

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Although Luna presents the tile as an example of a very recent discovery in Pompeii, it was actually found in 1975, at Pietrabbondante in Molise, to the north of Naples. Luna was familiar with reports of archaeological discoveries, and would certainly have been been aware of the historical Amica. It is not improbable that she had been quietly developing her story for several years before publishing 'Amica' on Cruxforums.

In moving the tile's discovery to Pompeii, Luna was skilfully adapting the facts for dramatic effect. The location of the camp is given only in general terms, and we learn that the ancient fortified city of Nola lies somewhere to the east of the route taken by Amica between Pompeii and the tile quarry. This suggests that the camp may be some ten miles from Pompeii, on the opposite side of Vesuvius. Luna indicated that she had based her slave-labour camp on the site of actual Roman quarries, plausibly worked by slaves, in the foothills of Vesuvius. She added the brick and tile-making industry, and moved the location somewhat closer to Pompeii.

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Regardless of it's presumed location, the camp is significant in the formation of Amica's last friendship. The vicious guard dog, a mastiff named Moloch, changes his allegiance and becomes her faithful companion. Moloch accompanies Amica on her return to Pompeii, after she is condemned with the other slaves. He witnesses the volcanic eruption and the crucifixion, and he is with her at the end of the story.

Luna draws clear parallels between the labour camp and the concentration camps of the Third Reich, thereby evoking the human suffering of more recent times. The words above the camp entrance, 'Labor Liberos Facit' are immediately recognisable as a direct reference to those at Auschwitz - 'Arbeit Macht Frei.' The Latin version occurred to Luna early in the development of the story concept, whilst she was adapting the theme of the tile inscriptions. One of the torments to which the slaves are subjected is being forced to escape, so that they can be pursued in a 'Quail Hunt', and either killed or recaptured.

For several weeks in 2014, both Luna's 'Amica' and Eulalia's 'Lassie-Hunting in the Northern Forest' were being posted contemporaneously on Cruxforums. Whilst there was certainly an exchange of ideas between the authors, Luna's reading of 'Lassie-Hunting' was plausibly frustrated by the Scots language. In fact Luna's hunt continues her theme of oppression based on the Third Reich, since the direct source of her girl-hunt is an incident in 'The Luneburg Variation' by Paolo Maurentig, a novel which describes the Quail Hunt as a game played by SS officers with their victims.

The 'Amica' story thread is enriched by reader comments, and Luna's responses are consistently informative and revealing. When @messaline enquires about the perceived paradox that Luna can write so beautifully and yet describe such horrific events, Luna explains that she is commenting on the prevalence of female subjugation throughout history. Indeed, the social and political commentary in 'Amica' consistently delivers something much more profound than a superficial crux tale.

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My labour camp manipulation combines another 'Spartacus' screen shot with a pose by Ana-Maria Ilinca, entitled 'Catharsis'. Yet again, her pose and expression were perfect for the manip, but there was no colour version of the original picture. After colourising the monochrome source image, I added the iron collar, inscribed with Amica's slave camp number, DXI. New sections of arms and elbows were added, because these parts are cropped out of the source photograph. Aisii's dark hair was retained, since at this point in the story, Amica's hair is dyed black. The loose strands around the outside of the hair were treated to numerous selective colour adjustments to blend with the background.

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[bobinder]

Crux Art and Velut Luna 1

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The first example of Velut Luna's crux art to appear on Cruxforums was her avatar. This is a photo manipulation by Luna, in a mixture of greyscale monochrome and sepia tones, created using a source image which she also presented as an illustration to 'The Devil in the Convent' on 29 April 2014.

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Luna explained that her preference for monochrome pictures led her to adapt this black and white photograph for her avatar. She produced an image which invites comparison with the early crux photography of Frantisek Drtikol, using separate layers and varying opacities to create the illusion of a cross behind the figure. Indeed she was deliberately aiming for an old, sepia (silver nitrate) photo effect, and she explained that the result -

'... is done in a very strange way, the avatar is done a little transparent for can be seen the under crux and background as in a very old silver plate screen.'

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'The Devil in the Convent' contains two further pictures of this model from the same photo session. Whilst many of Luna's story illustrations show her favourite model, Aisii, the avatar source figure is not Ana-Maria Ilinca, and to date I have been unable to identify her. I am similarly unable to identify the photographer.

I have referred previously to the two 3D renders which Luna produced to illustrate 'Amica', and since both that story and the preceding one contain highly descriptive crux scenes, it comes as no surprise to find that, as a 3D artist, Luna created crux renders. What is perhaps surprising is the fact that Luna did not use her 3D renders to illustrate the crux scenes in either of the stories which contain dramatic references to crucifixions during volcanic eruptions.

Luna presented her first 3D crux render in the thread, 'Wanted Background Pics Models e-t-c' on 14 November 2014. She stated that it was her first publicly posted 3D render, and it is possible that she started working in this medium only a short time beforehand. At any rate, that would explain why her renders appeared too late for 'The Devil in the Convent', which was finished on 3 July 2014. Luna could certainly have rendered Amica's crucifixion in 3D had she wished to do so, but instead she chose to employ her very competent photo manipulation skills to illustrate that scene.

Like her renders for 'Amica', Luna's 3D crux art employs Ascanio's Victoria 4 figure. As her first render was intended to address the requirements of the thread, 'Wanted Background Pics Models e-t-c' it presents the model only, in the appropriate pose. The unadorned figure has no cross, nails or background, and is presented as a suitable source for photo manipulation.

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Luna presented one further crux render on 1 December 2014 in the thread, 'A Challenge - Your Best Manip Pix Poser Here'. This time, the similarly posed V4 figure takes her place in a fully finished crux scene, complete with cross, nails in the palms and feet, and a crown of thorns. The photographic background shows a sunburst through dense clouds, immediately behind the head and shoulders of the figure, which hangs above mountainous terrain. The subdued tones of the background remind us of Luna's preference for monchrome. Only the sunlight provides a flash of colour, backlighting the skin tones of the figure, and contributing to a most successful composition -

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Curiously, the overlapped feet are not transfixed by a single nail, which would otherwise seem appropriate for such a traditional pose, and this is a four-nail crucifixion. The crown disappears into the mass of suitably untidy, long, dark hair but there are no bloodstains to be seen. I understand that blood effects are not straightforward by any means in 3D art, and whilst Luna was quite capable of Photoshopping them as postwork, for whatever reason, she chose not to. Notably, the same absence of blood applies equally to both of her crux manips. Perhaps she found such realism unappealing.

There is much about Luna's style, both literary and visual, which is eclectic. She explored the work of others, noting particularly what most appealed to her. Whilst I would argue that most of us do this, either consciously or subconsciously, Luna went further and interpreted that appeal with considerable enthusiasm. She saw manips on Cruxforums and decided to make her own. She saw renders by Ascanio and used his figure to produce her own, exploiting the facial features with which she identified. Few of us combine the talents of crux author, manipulator and 3D artist so successfully. Whilst Luna must have produced more pictures than the ones she shared with us, her output of renders and manips was admittedly modest. She was first and foremost a writer, and that was the field in which her talents excelled.

 

[bobinder]

Crux Art and Velut Luna 2

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Arguably the best known example of crux art by Velut Luna is the spectacular manipulation she created to illustrate the crucifixion of Amica, with Vesuvius erupting in the background. Here, Luna indulges her love of monochrome, combining the black and white source images in a deceptively simple composition. A sepia version, which appears in the 'Amica' PDF, is identical apart from the addition of nails in the palms and feet. Neither version displays wounds or bloodstains. A background photograph of the impressive 1944 eruption of Vesuvius provides a strong diagonal emphasis, the smoke and volcano filling the lower right area, leaving a triangular space of open sky at the upper left which is occupied by the crucified Amica.

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Thus Luna presents two subjects of powerful drama, which are juxtaposed in a visually effective manner. The theme of 'volcano-crux', first suggested in 'The Devil in the Convent', is now realised by photo manipulation in the symbolic crux scene from 'Amica'. There is no attempt to depict the destruction being inflicted on the buildings of Pompeii, which would otherwise appear between Amica and the mountain. In the story, she takes her place in a mass crucifixion in the Forum, within sight of the Temple of Jupiter, but the simplicity of Luna's image is what makes it so effective.

Luna was working with monchrome elements and the lack of colour in her chosen sources was of no consequence. There are probably no more than three or four visible layers in the picture - the figure, the cross and the background. The cross looks a bit like the one used by Ramon Martinez in his 'Passion of a Goddess' pictures, although it is desaturated beyond positive recognition. The titulus may be an additional component, together with an item suspended from the right half of the patibulum.

The model is Ana-Maria Ilinca, in a pose which Luna found so irresistible that she posted the full original image as well as a detail in the thread, 'Wanted Background Pics Models e-t-c'. It is probably the most traditionally 'crucified' of the various cruciform poses, 'sans croix', by Ana-Maria, although it does not seem to be widely used by crux manip artists. Perhaps the absence of colour is part of the reason for its lack of appeal?

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Consequently, this particular crux figure pose is associated almost exclusively with Velut Luna, 'Amica' and the corresponding image of Vesuvius. An exception which appeared earlier this year is a manip, entitled 'Temple Crucifixions' by @hammers - also known as Nailhand on DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/nailhand

Ana-Maria is the most prominent of six crucified females, in a mass crux scene, within sight of a ruined temple. The simple composition and broad, flat colouring suggest the influence of the Symbolist movement, and notwithstanding the absence of a volcano, this could almost represent the crux scene in 'Amica'. Hammers has introduced elements of realism by colourising the figure and adding ropes, nails and bloodstains.

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We can see how hammers has adapted the same figure for two further manipulations on the Roman theme - 'Scenes in the Arena' and 'Ruthless Repression by Rome of the Zealot Uprising'. His modifications include the use of different heads, which disguise the identity the original model. It would be interesting to learn whether hammers was initially influenced by Luna's 'Amica' manipulation, or whether he shared with her the inspiration originally provided by the Aisii source image.

 

[bobinder]

Crux Art and Velut Luna 3

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The coincidence of the volcanic eruption and the crucifixion of Amica marks the dramatic highlight of Luna's story. The scene draws its energy from this combination of destructive violence, wrought simultaneously on a natural and human scale. Luna's written account expresses the forces at work, arguably more effectively than a single image can convey. Her iconic illustration of the scene is a symbolic complement to the unfolding drama in a sensational piece of writing.

As noted previously, the only visual illustrations of this emotionally stirring scene are two manips - one each by Luna and Madiosi. Whilst it may seem surprising that few artists have felt inspired to depict one of the most dramatic scenes conceived in crux literature, this is undoubtedly a scene which presents a challenge in visual terms, especially in terms of a photo realistic interpretation.

My first endeavours in producing a manipulation of the crucified Amica were frustrated by the fact that Luna's own manip is perfect in terms of its simple and expressive composition. As a visual complement to her dramatic text, it is so effective that it stands on its own merits. Taking a step back, I considered how Luna might have developed her own picture, and I concluded that her original components would have to be preserved in a new version. I was also conscious that Luna had actually stood in the Forum of Pompeii, gazing up at Vesuvius, rising behind the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter, whilst imagining the kind of scenes which she wrote for 'Amica'. She was familiar with the precise location of the crucifixion, and her vision was at least partly based in reality.

Luna's symbolic manipulation gives equal prominence to the crucifixion and the eruption. Amica seems to rise above the mountain and its belching smoke, although the relative scale is rather deceptive. Whilst in reality Vesuvius is enormous and the human figure is very small, Luna's juxtaposition of these two elements is surprisingly accurate, if we understand it in terms of the large intervening distance and the low viewpoint.

The original features of Luna's manip are easily recognisable in my version, which preserves the relative positions of Amica and Vesuvius, in a tribute to her original concept. The source photograph of Aisii was cut out and inserted in the new picture, providing more flexibility in composition than simply copying the figure from Luna's manip. The wide aspect ratio allows the insertion of a reconstruction of the rooftops in the Forum, at a convincing angle for the low viewpoint. The fiery cloud of Luna's description engulfs the broken pillars of the Temple of Jupiter, which is represented according to its present ruined appearance -

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The rustic cross and titulus are broadly consistent with Luna's original image and her description of the recycled timber. A new sky with ragged clouds on the left balances the billowing smoke on the right. Subtle alterations to the figure include raising the arms, opening the mouth and adding more of Ana-Maria's windswept hair from the source photograph. Ropes, nails and bloodstains contribute to the dramatic effect, and I hope the resulting picture presents a sympathetic treatment of Luna's original concept.

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