Portrait (Harry Potter)

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In the Harry Potter books and films, the subjects of magical portraits can move (or simulate motion, at least within the two-dimensional plane of the picture), interact with living observers, speak, and demonstrate apparent emotion and personality. Some can even apparently move to other portraits to visit each other, or to relay messages. Many portraits are found on the walls of Hogwarts.

At least one portrait, that of the Fat Lady, can perform at least one action with a directly visible effect outside the frame of her painting: she can open the door that is hidden behind her painting, by unknown (presumably magical) means.

It is unknown how the painted portraits come into being: whether they are produced by a painter or brought into existence by other means. It is also unknown whether they are bewitched or haunted by the spirit of a once-living person. Magical photographs with similar properties are created by developing regular (un-magical) film in a magic potion. As of this writing, living persons have only been depicted in magical photographs; it is presently not known whether it is possible to produce a painted magical portrait of a living subject.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, soon after the death of Albus Dumbledore, Harry enters the Headmaster's former office to see a portrait depicting his late mentor snoozing peacefully. This may seem to imply that no-one actually paints these portraits - they magically appear when the subject dies. It is also possible that a portrait was produced during Dumbledore's life, and installed in the Headmaster's office upon his demise, per Hogwarts tradition (Portraits in the Headmaster's office).

Contents 1 At Hogwarts 1.1 The Fat Lady 1.2 Sir Cadogan 1.3 Violet 1.4 Barnabas the Barmy 1.5 Portraits in the Headmaster's office 1.5.1 Dolores Umbridge 1.5.2 Fortescue 2 Walburga Black (Sirius' Mother) 3 Photographs 4 Others 5 Are they "people"? 6 See also 7 References

[edit] At Hogwarts

[edit] The Fat Lady

Harry Potter character
The Fat Lady
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Unknown (Brown in the films and book illustrations)
House	Gryffindor
Parentage	None
Allegiance	Hogwarts
Actor	Elizabeth Spriggs/Dawn French
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

The Fat Lady is the guardian of the door to Gryffindor Tower, which is hidden behind her painting. She will open it (sometimes grudgingly) when the correct password is uttered. She is often upset after being awakened. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, she left to visit another portrait in the middle of the night, locking Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville out of Gryffindor Tower. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Fat Lady was attacked by Sirius Black and it was some time before she dared to guard Gryffindor Tower again.

The Fat Lady can be seen as a parody of the magical threshold guardians common in literature and myth, such as the sphinx faced by Oedipus, the gates of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring, or the door of the bandits' cave to which Ali Baba gains entry in Arabian Nights. Each of these will only permit passage if the traveller speaks correct words.^{[citation needed]}

The Fat Lady has no other known name, and even the most polite characters refer to her simply as "the Fat Lady". It is unknown whether or not she, like most portraits, is based on a living person---and if so, why she is not referred to by a proper name.

In the first movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) the Fat Lady was played by Elizabeth Spriggs. She did not appear in the second movie. In the third movie (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) she was played by Dawn French. She also didn't appear in the fourth (and most recent) movie.

[edit] Sir Cadogan

Harry Potter character
Sir Cadogan
Gender	Male
Hair colour	White (inferring from his moustache)
House	None
Parentage	None
Allegiance	Hogwarts
Actor	Paul Whitehouse (for a brief cameo and a couple of deleted scenes)
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Sir Cadogan is an eccentric knight who guarded Gryffindor Tower during Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when the Fat Lady was recovering from her encounter with Sirius Black. Sir Cadogan was universally hated as he challenged people to duel and used complicated passwords that he changed frequently. He was fired after he allowed Sirius Black entry when Sirius read the whole week's worth of passwords off a list (compiled by Neville Longbottom who was unable to keep track of the changes). Sir Cadogan's portrait was already well-known at Hogwarts in Bill Weasley's day. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Violet

Harry Potter character
Violet
Gender	Female
House	None
Parentage	None
Allegiance	Hogwarts
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Violet is a portrait present in the Chamber off the Great Hall where Albus Dumbledore addressed the four Triwizard Champions. She listened to the whole meeting, and then visited the Fat Lady and told her, as well as the other Gryffindor students, all about it. She again visited the Fat Lady on Christmas, when she was nicknamed "Vi" and both portraits depicted people getting very drunk.

[edit] Barnabas the Barmy

Harry Potter character
Barnabas the Barmy
Gender	Male
House	None
Parentage	None
Actor	(has not been in film yet)
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Barnabas the Barmy was a deranged wizard, notorious for trying to teach trolls to dance ballet.^{[citation needed]} A tapestry showing one of his attempts is found on a wall directly opposite the door to the Room of Requirement.

[edit] Portraits in the Headmaster's office

The portraits in the Headmaster's office depict all former Headmasters of Hogwarts, who at times act to advise the Headmaster and are sworn to aid him in his duties. They include but are not limited to:

• Phineas Nigellus (Linked to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London)
• Dilys Derwent (Linked to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries)
• Everard Proudfoot (Linked to the Ministry of Magic)
• Fortescue
• Armando Dippet
• Albus Dumbledore (since death in 1997 (HP7))

[edit] Dolores Umbridge

Although she served as Headmistress of Hogwarts briefly during the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, there has been no mention so far of any portrait of Dolores Jane Umbridge. It is possible that no portrait exists, or that none was ever installed for some reason (Umbridge may well have been the most universally despised head of the school in modern times, and her tenure was somewhat truncated). Fan speculation ^[1] questions whether portraits are only produced of deceased Headmasters, or only of those who actually spent time in the Headmaster's office (Umbridge at no point during her tenure as headmistress entered the office, as an enchantment kept her out). No evidence currently supports either possibility.

[edit] Fortescue

This character appeared briefly twice in the Harry Potter Series (HP5 and HP6). He is part of the collection of portraits of former Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts hanging in Dumbledore's office. This particular portrait is described being in the wall behind Dumbledore's desk. Nothing else is known about him, except that he is a "red-nosed corpulent wizard". From his brief appearance, it can be inferred that Fortescue had high ethical standards and was greatly appalled by the corruption of the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter's days. The former headmaster may be related to Florean Fortescue.

[edit] Walburga Black (Sirius' Mother)

Harry Potter character
Walburga Black
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Grey and messy
Eye colour	Popping and rolling
House	Slytherin
Parentage	Pure Blood
Allegiance	The Black Family
Actor	(has not been in film yet)
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The emphatically outspoken portrait of Sirius Black's elderly mother, Walburga Black, is kept in the Black family home at Number 12, Grimmauld Place in London (sometimes behind a thick curtain), and is magically fixed to the wall so that all attempts to remove it have so far been fruitless. Mrs Black was herself deceased at the time of the events in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The portrait has, or accurately portrays, her deep-seated hatred for non-Purebloods, and disapproved of the activities of the Order of the Phoenix taking place in her house. Apparently, however, the portrait had no legal rights and was powerless to influence the living, aside from trying to drive them out by screaming at them.

[edit] Photographs

Wizarding photographs of people have similar properties to magical painted portraits: the figures within move or even, sometimes, leave. As with the paintings, the images of people in the photographs do not appear to age.

In order for photographs to be Wizarding photographs (that is, in order for them to move), the film from an ordinary (non-magical) camera must be developed in a certain potion. Similar to muggles, witches and wizards sometimes like to keep their photos in attractive albums or scrapbooks, like the one Hagrid made for Harry with photos of the Potters. Moving photos also appear in wizard newspapers and other print media.^{[citation needed]}

The images of people in photographs are more confined to the moment than those in paintings, often repeating the same brief span of time over and over. The subjects of some photos can leave the photographs, but it is unclear whether they can travel to other photos and communicate with their surroundings as painted portrait subjects can.

The people in some photographs seem to have a connection to their living subject in the real world, as shown in The Order of the Phoenix: when Percy Weasley became estranged from his family, his counterpart in Arthur Weasley's photograph walked out also; so the depiction in the photo must somehow "know" the moods of the real person.

[edit] Others

• Portrait of Elfrida Clagg (kept at the Ministry of Magic)

• Portrait in the British Prime Minister's office ("froglike little man wearing a long silver wig"), used by the Ministry of Magic to communicate with the muggle government

• The kittens painted on china plates, with which Dolores Umbridge decorated the Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher's office, also had some ability to move around.

• A physiologically inaccurate painting of a mermaid in the Hogwarts prefect's bathroom (appeared as a stained-glass window in the film).

• Portraits in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

[edit] Are they "people"?

See also: Being (Harry Potter)

While it can be argued that these objects seem to show evidence of both sentience and sapience, it is unknown whether the figures in the paintings actually possess consciousness, or experience self-awareness -- or are merely enchanted to simulate these qualities for purposes of convenience or amusement, or for some other reason. J.K. Rowling has chosen to be vague on this point; she has not explicitly demonstrated to what degree the paintings are "alive" (or ever were) and has exploited this ambiguity for eerie and humorous effect.

As evidence that the paintings are not considered to be "alive": the students at Hogwarts often treat the paintings there with impatience or informality. They address no other adults in the school in this fashion, even the non-living ones. This may suggest that the paintings are not considered to be actual persons.

Furthermore, the portrait of Sirius Black's mother in the Black family residence at 12 Grimmauld Place demonstrates vehement disapproval of the activities of the Order of the Phoenix taking place in "her" house. However, although Sirius and the other living human inhabitants of the house refer to the painting as "her", as if it were the living Mrs Black, "her" opinion is ignored by all persons present, and legally the house is considered to belong to Sirius (and later Harry). This may suggest that the painting has no legal rights and is not a person but rather the recorded image of that person.

On the other hand, the headmaster Dumbledore himself has been known to accept advice on important matters from the pictures in his office, and speaks to the portrait of Phineas Nigellus as if it were the man himself, suggesting that the portrait models Nigellus' intellectual capacities, at least.

Also, Dumbledore speaks to the Fat Lady with deferent manners. It cannot be determined whether the Lady is due courtesy as a person, or whether Dumbledore's solicitude is intended to expedite an interaction with a "touchy" and unpredictable simulation.

The portraits may be considered reliable witnesses (to whatever degree the personality depicted in the painting may be considered a reliable witness). For example: in the case of Sirius Black infiltrating Hogwarts upon his escape from Azkaban, the Fat Lady's testimony to his presence led to a security lockdown of the school. This last may not imply personhood, however; note that the "perceptions" of a video camera are accepted as evidence in real life, without assuming such a device is self-aware.

J.K. Rowling made a comment in an interview ^[2] that a portrait is something like a faint imprint of the person in question, imitating the basic attitude and thought patterns of the person, though less realised than a ghost. This may suggest a certain level of consciousness, but less than that of a living individual.

[edit] See also

• Portrait
• Painting
• Max Headroom

[edit] References

1. ^ Dumbledore is not Dead. Dumbledore is not Dead (Aug 13, 2006).
2. ^ J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival. J.K.Rowling Official Web Site (Aug 15, 2004).