portraits
Starfox64
i was just wondering, how do the portraits come alive? couldn't they
just draw a picture of sirius black?
just wondering...
Petrea Mitchell
Starfox64 <irsh...@servihoo.com> strode forth and proclaimed:
> i was just wondering, how do the portraits come alive? couldn't they
> just draw a picture of sirius black?
It's never been specifically stated, but I think you need to have a
live subject sitting there for the portrait in order for it to "come
alive". It's said that a good portrait captures the soul of the sitter;
in the Harry Potter world, I think it's not just a metaphor.
--
/
Petrea Mitchell <|> <|> <pr...@m5p.com> <mit...@osm.com>
A above high C: funny or not funny not floating?
"Happy motoring. And take that brassiere off your head." ---Dave Barry
Richard Eney
Petrea Mitchell <pr...@parkstreet.m5p.com> wrote:
>At 26 Mar 2005 00:11:08 -0800,
>Starfox64 <irsh...@servihoo.com> strode forth and proclaimed:
>
>> i was just wondering, how do the portraits come alive? couldn't they
>> just draw a picture of sirius black?
>
>It's never been specifically stated, but I think you need to have a
>live subject sitting there for the portrait in order for it to "come
>alive". It's said that a good portrait captures the soul of the sitter;
>in the Harry Potter world, I think it's not just a metaphor.
Somehow I think the portraits are more like the echoes in the wand,
reflections of the personality at the time, able to respond but
essentially a recording rather than the living soul. Either that or
the headmasters have given up heaven for the duty of advising the current
headmaster.
But what does this all mean with regard to the portrait of Harry that
Dobby painted? It's almost entirely black.
=Tamar
Toon
wrote:
>But what does this all mean with regard to the portrait of Harry that
>Dobby painted? It's almost entirely black.
>
Siriusly?
Richard Eney
Butterfly
make a picture of someone(he talks about photographs, but I am guessing
the same thing applies to portraits), and if you develop it with some
sort of potion, you can make it move. I think that is how it works.
There is also the chance that there is a magical pencil of some sort
that brings pictures to life. I am guessing, that was how the
Maurauder's Map was created.
And for the Sirius thing, it is just a portrait that moves. It is not
like you can suddenly bring the wizard to life. You just have a moving
picture of a wizard.
JoeMo
BUT I DON'T KNOW WHO TO CREDIT IT TO) but someone somewhere postulated
that perhaps the magic from the portraits come from the frame, and that
they are made of wand wood. In the books, it appears that portraits are
more "human" than photographs. (No one has had a conversation with a
photo like they do with portraits, and portraits do seem to have more
of a mind) Maybe JKR will resolve this mystery if (when) Dumbledore
dies... remember, all headmasters get their own portrait to help future
headmasters.
Sirius Kase
"Butterfly" <sahana...@gmail.com> wrote:
IMO, a wizard photo is simply a snapshot that happens to capture the
personality of a person as perceived by the camera at the time of the
photo. A muggle device that acts similarly, might be a camera with a
microphone that captures a little sound as well as a little light. It
appears to me that the only part of Harry's personality caught in
Colin's photo was the part that wanted out of the picture.
Since a wizard must sit for a painted portrait, the artist has more time
to pick up and incorporate personality traits. You can see this even in
good muggle paintings. And since an artist is a person and not a
machine, he can bring in other information that he knows about the
subject, and process it so that it is acceptable. (Like that he knows
from the news that this subject is a vain jerk and he figures out how to
portray that fact in a way that the subject himself approves of somehow,
that he intreprets it as dignity rather than arragonce or something.)
So, a painting that portrays Dumbledore at his prime would be like a
very good copy that's been enhanced possibly by the artist. The real
Dumbly will go on to wherever he will go. A picture of Sirius might
be nice, if it was drawn by an artist who knew him well and could
capture enough of his personality to be useful.
Dobby's drawing of Harry is interesting. It is, of course, how dobby
sees (and knows) him to be, but possibly enhanced by a lack of artistry.
Maybe he does see Harry as being a dark person, only Jo knows whether
this insignificant seeming tidbit means more that what we know.
--
Sirius Kase
The FAQ on your web browser: <http://tinyurl.com/24czw>
another good website: <http://www.hogwarts-library.net/reference/>
Books recommended by the this Group:
<http://tinyurl.com/58b3j> which points to:
<http://groups.google.com.pe/groups?threadm=8kNmd.18113%24fC4.5119%40newssvr11.news.prodigy.com>
<http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.fan.harry-potter/browse_thread/thread/f68e078c83ef113f>
Peter Mason
Richard Eney wrote:
> Somehow I think the portraits are more like the echoes in the wand,
> reflections of the personality at the time, able to respond but
> essentially a recording rather than the living soul. Either that or
> the headmasters have given up heaven for the duty of advising the
current
> headmaster.
But hasn't Rowling said that the headmasters are more lifelike than the
other portraits such as that of Mrs. Black because they have left
behind more of an imprint of themselves specifically in their offices
at Hogwarts.
Toon
wrote:
Nah. It just steals a part of your soul.