A Painter Behind the Curtain

Description

Ian is a painter with a natural-born talent, but his love for painting is soon lost after being forced to work for the cruel and greedy Bardi family. No one knows that he's the genius behind the beautiful works of art that the famous family claims as their own. That is until one day, when the wealthy merchant Raymond comes for a portrait, and his interest in Ian is piqued… Can Raymond help him to see the beauty in the world again? Or will Ian's true talent forever remain unseen?

Audiotoon PV

Original Webtoon:
R19: Naver Series, Ridibooks, MrBlue, Lezhin, BookCube, Onestory, Nate
R15: Naver Series, Ridibooks, KakaoPage, MrBlue

Official Translations:
R19: English, French, German
R15: English, French, German
Japanese: Beltoon, Lezhin, cmoa

Type

Manhwa

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

A Proxy Painter

Daelihwaga

代理画家

대리화가

대리화가(완전판)

Groups Scanlating

ryu_ishimaru69

Latest Release(s)

c.1 by ryu_ishimaru69 3 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

70 Chapters + 5 Side Story (Complete)
7 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.8 / 10.0 (91 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.18 / 10.0

45%

24%

13%

11%

Last Updated

August 12th, 2025 2:38pm PDT - 1 month ago

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Genre

Drama Historical Romance Yaoi
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

I Became the Squirrel That Saves the Villain

Isekai Tensei Shitara, Oshi no Katakiyaku no Maid ni Narimashita

Painter of the Night

Illuminate the Night

The Fake Saint of a Reverse Harem Game

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

Munamu

Artist(s)

Munamu

Year

2015

Original Publisher

Audiodrama and AudioToon [Add] (대원씨아이 2021)

Comico (Expired)

Daiwon

Lezhin

Serialized In (magazine)

N/A

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Tappytoon

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #721

(+122)

Monthly Pos #1513

(-334)

3 Month Pos #3117

(-235)

6 Month Pos #3783

(-686)

Year Pos #5028

(-23)

List Stats

On 114 reading lists

On 140 wish lists

On 223 completed lists

On 7 unfinished lists

On 147 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

[Sexual assault in BL list]

by coffeedrinker2
5 months ago

Rating: N/A

The first time they have sex, the top had been drugged with an aphrodisiac and starts advancing on the bottom, and the bottom, despite being able to tell he was drugged, allows him to. The top does not remember this afterwards.

... Last updated 5 months ago

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Spoiler-Included Review

by evehealy
2 years ago

Rating: N/A

Post

Video

Was this comment useful? Yes

Like Old, Classic Shoujo But in BL

by swordfish307
2 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Not only does the art style brings back memories of old shoujo manga like Candy Candy, the characters do as well. The main character, Ian, has low self-esteem and Raymond, the other main character, is a selfish and manipulative man who plans to use Ian to ultimately get revenge. If you like those themes and you like reading BL, then give this story a go!

The story has a good pace and honestly, I thought it was 10/10 for four-fifths of the story in. The creator did something near the end that I thought was really lousy and cliche; but I guess they thought they needed that for a happy ending. The rated-R scenes were alright. You can read the all-ages version without an issue since the scenes are still there, just covered in shadows. The story is why the comic is so great anyways.

... Last updated 2 years ago

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Interesting plot and well written, though I don't love the art

by zakiue
3 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I really would have loved to read this with different art. It might just be my personal taste, but it feels so flat. The plot is well structured and stays interesting to the very end. All the threads were tied up nicely, but not so cleanly it felt forced. It's more than a romance, but the relationship between Ian and Raymond stayed the focal point.

I found the main characters a little one-dimensional, but not so much that I lost interest. In spite of all of the drama, their emotions are strangely consistent. Like, Ian is always a bit desperate and a bit resigned. Although his thoughts and motivations might change, the intensity of his feelings seems the same no matter what he's responding to. It isn't bad, but I probably won't reread it. It's worth reading once, though.

... Last updated 3 years ago

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such a phenomenal read where the writing really shines

by mimi201
3 years ago

Rating: 9.9 / 10.0

Just finished the 5 side stories and just WOW. One of the best written BL series in a long while that I've come across. I am not a fan of historical genre manga/manhwa but this grabbed your attention from the beginning and was so good from start to finish.

Story was great, the premise, the writing, character development, characters with depth and backstory to support why they are the person they are today and reasoning for their actions. Art was great! Only critique about the art is that the face is not a strength of the creator when it comes to drawing. Background art were great and body they could draw very well but faces was not a strong point. HOWEVER, the writing (and many memorable quotes) made up for that slight weakness.

This really felt like a great novel: had a beginning, middle, end; back stories; good pacing; great panel layouts.

spoiler:

would have been nice to see a time skip such as 5 years to see what they were doing, but the assumed 1 year time skip was nice.

I am such a sucker for in debt protagonist male leads and a sucker for stories where the seme falls hard for the protagonist and doing anything and everything to protect them and keep them next to them, even if they have to resort to drastic measures. I feel like if you have read normal romance novels then you already know there's cliche character developments/plot points that you can anticipate.

... Last updated 2 years ago

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Genuinely amazing from start to finish

by sarablack10
3 years ago

Rating: N/A

I was thoroughly impressed with this. The pacing was excellent, where it was plotty but not confusing, without too many subplots like many stories get. The characters were interesting and believable, and the backstories were compelling and the character development felt complete. The ending was satisfying. Not the most beautiful of art (but not bad!), but that’s my only gripe.

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Solid story

by Pompina Q
3 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

This was a solid story all the way through the end. There were some plot points where the reader was left to assume the endings but for the most part the story was well written.
I almost wish the art would’ve been a little bit better. However I still highly recommend the story because it was written so well.

... Last updated 3 years ago

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I am thrilled

by Gamba
5 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Salute to Munamu for this outstanding work! Reading "Painter behind the Curtain" is as satisfying as watching a great romance movie. The human emotions expressed in the comic are sweet, desperate, dangerous and vibrating. I truly adore the characters Munamu created. I give this work 10. I look forward to Munamu's next work.

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