Blanche has spoken of this image before in interviews, revealing his art was never meant to depict the “real” Emperor, rather it was meant to show an image of the Emperor pilgrims who had made their way to Terra (earth in the 41st millenium) would gaze upon as they arrived at what they thought was the God of Mankind’s throne. The “real” Emperor, Blanche believed, is kept in a glass tube behind this facade, connected to all kinds of machinery. Blanche’s artwork is used as a reference point even now, decades after he painted it, amid debates about the Emperor in the current setting.
