MART-601 Lessons

So far, today has been a normal Friday at Hogwarts. You have just turned in an assignment earlier that day for Defense Against the Dark Arts and are now heading up to the fifth floor to attend your last course that week: Magical Art. As you walk into the classroom, you notice that Professor Rosenquist is having a conversation with a portrait of an Italian woman in the corner of the classroom. You take a seat at your desk and begin to open up your notebooks, only to realize that this seemingly normal conversation the professor was having was actually an argument about foreign cuisine. Looking up from your task, you glance at the commotion. From your closer perspective, the portrait who was arguing with your professor seems to be the… Mona Lisa? Well that is strange. You aren’t sure how Professor Rosenquist managed to get her hands on a magical replica of the famous painting, and you aren’t necessarily sure if it’s appropriate to ask either. Your seatmate, who had arrived before you, gives you a confused look similar to your own and a shrug when you ask what is going on. Deciding it is useless to get any answers right now, you continue your task of preparing your notes for the upcoming lecture.

When the room finally filled with students, the argument was still ongoing. Mona Lisa noticed this and decided it was a good time to interrupt Professor Rosenquist’s monologue on how Swedish cuisine is the superior food. The professor was about to protest before realizing that the background chatter had quieted down considerably. Glaring at Mona Lisa’s smug expression, Professor Rosenquist mumbled, “We’ll settle this later,” before turning around and addressing her students.

Ahem, I apologize that you had to see that. I’m afraid that Mona Lisa and I got a little too carried away in our opinions of food. Anyway, welcome back to Magical Art after a well deserved break! How are you feeling after midterms for all of your courses? I must say that I was quite impressed with all of your work, though of course, I expect no less than excellence from every one of you. Now, during our last meeting we discussed the broad topic of painting and all the different genres and paints that are available. However, as it is the most common type of painting that you will encounter within any vicinity in the wizarding world, I specifically saved magical portraiture for today. We will briefly discuss what portraiture is, the history of it, and a simple charm that you will need for your extra credit assignment today. Afterwards, we will be taking a walk through the castle halls for a portrait tour. I would like for you to get well-acquainted with the art displayed here at Hogwarts, so your other assignment today is to pick one to interview after our tour. How exciting! Let’s go ahead and dive into the lecture so we don’t waste too much time cooped up here.

Portraits are a genre of paintings intending to portray a human subject. These paintings can vary on how much they depict the subject, whether it be full-length, half-length, bust (head and shoulders), or simply the head. Portrait artists can also choose the angle at which they wish to portray the subject such as simply the profile, a three-quarter view, or a full face view with the subject completely facing forward. One example that shows all three of these angles is Charles I in Three Positions by Anthony van Dyck (c. 1635), which depicts Charles I of England in multiple views. Interestingly enough, this also happens to be the artwork that inspired the artist of Edward Rabnott’s portrait, located on the fourth floor if you would like to look for it during our tour. Paintings of people where you can’t see their faces, such as having their back turned towards the viewer, are not uncommon either. From there, the depictions vary even more. The subject could be clothed or nude; be posed in different positions such as standing or sitting; be by themselves, with a significant other, with children, or in a large group. As we learned from the last lesson, there are various mediums used to compose paintings, which goes for portraits as well! Although most of the portraits in the castle were painted with oil paints, there are certainly portraits composed from pastels, watercolor paints, and even charcoal. Even though this is a genre of painting, the term “portrait” can also extend to other mediums such as photographs and various forms of printmaking.

Like other forms of art, portraits are made from either the artist’s own inspiration or are commissioned from either a private or public buyer. Regardless, the end result of the portrait, whether it be the visual portrayal of the subject or how the subject behaves after enchantments, is solely based on the artist’s interpretation. Some artists try to make the portrait as realistic as possible while others give it some impressionistic similarity, but their main goal is to portray the subject’s inner essence to the viewer (or at least paint a flattering representation). Taking that into consideration, portraits take a significant amount of time to produce; requiring substantial knowledge of human anatomy and needing the model to have several sittings (or a lot of time in front of a mirror for self-portraits).

After the actual painting and enchantments are finished, the subject can opt to spend time with their portrait to teach it how to act like them. This is common with important figures such as headmasters or ministers for magic so that the portrait acts as similar as possible, which proves very useful after the subject has passed away. However, most of the time this is not the case, whether the subject is not available or chooses not to, and the portrait reflects the artist’s perception of the subject and what they knew about them. Typically this perception is taken from the artist’s impression of the model during a sitting, unless, of course, if the artist was close to the model prior to painting. A good portrait artist can usually get a relatively accurate idea of the model’s personality throughout several sittings, but there have been a few instances of completely inaccurate portrait behaviors and angry clients. One unique situation that comes to mind is during the early days of Gilderoy Lockhart’s fraudulent career, he hired a close friend to paint his portrait. While the portrait was visually accurate, the Lockhart in the portrait was more similar to Lockhart’s true personality since the artist knew him well. In normal circumstances, the artist would have been considered to have done a fantastic job. However, Lockhart wanted the portrait to reflect how he started to present himself to the media and was furious. He destroyed the portrait and decided to learn how to paint himself, most of his paintings being self-portraits. It was only much later in his career that Lockhart commissioned another artist to paint his portrait, checking first that they didn’t know him well.

Looking at how far back painting goes, it’s no surprise that portraiture has also existed since ancient times. The beginnings of portraiture truly took off through funerary traditions of ancient Egypt. Ancient artists painted and sculpted the sarcophagi of pharaohs, stylizing them to preserve and represent the pharaoh’s life and legacy. However, early Egyptian art was extremely idealized until the pharaoh Akhenaten (on right), who demanded his artists to depict him realistically with his physical deformities. This was considered to be a radical idea at the time and fell out of favor with the public after Akhenaten passed away, but it was the early beginnings of ancient magical artists’ desire for capturing life and preserving it through portraiture. Funerary masks were also commonly made for burials: from the ancient Mycenaean rules to the poorest ancient Romano-Egyptians. Chinese portraiture has existed as far back as 1000 B.C.E., however none of these early portraits have survived according to the records and the earliest surviving portrait date back to 1000 C.E.

It wasn’t until 500 B.C.E. that artists began depicting realistic movement. This all began with Greek artists directing models to shift their weight onto a single foot, which is a stance called contrapposto (Michelangelo’s David being a prime example of this pose), and later developed into poses that truly showed the body in mid-movement. The Romans took the dynamism from the Greeks and combined it with a desire for truly realistic depiction, imperfections and all, sometimes capturing the truly unflattering. In Roman-dominated Egypt, naturalistic portraits known as Fayum mummy portraits (shown on left) covered the faces of mummified bodies when buried. These were often done on wooden boards with either tempera, a permanent quick-drying paint made through combining pigments and a water-soluble binder (typically egg yolk), or encaustic paints. These mummy portraits were considered panel paintings, one of the most highly regarded forms of Classical art, and are the only large body of that particular art to have survived.

As time went on, idealization and realism in portrait art continued to go in and out of style; and in the modern artistic era, the main influence on portraiture was impressionism and realism. Tempera was the main medium for portrait artists up until the Renaissance. While many in southern Europe held fast to tempera, northern European artists started to use oil paints because it allowed them to take more time in capturing the minutiae of an individual face. Eventually this overtook tempera as the preferred medium for portraiture and it still remains so even today with both magical and Muggle portrait artists.

Speaking of Muggle artists, they have always been confined in ways that wizards have not. Magical artists have been able to enchant their art to lend extra oomph of realism to their portraits, discovering means of imbuing the painted subject with a mimicry of life, as time and spellwork has progressed, unique to the individual. The discovery of these enchantments, of course, took time and lots of experimentation, and were mainly used on sculptures and statues first as it was easier to animate three-dimensional objects. Speech was possible first. The Greek Daedalus cast enchantments on a statue of the goddess Aphrodite, which granted her the gift of speech. Aristotle mistook these speech enchantments as the use of mercury’s magical properties. Spells that animated the figures to move arose during the Roman Empire, which were typically used on decorative architectural elements called friezes. People would install faces above doorways and have them greet (or insult) guests as they entered. The Cypriot wizard Pygmalion was not satisfied by their superficial recitations, though. He heard a greeting as he approached these faces, but saw that their mouths did not move, or in very expensive versions, would raise and lower awkwardly, like a sock puppet. He determined that to make the movements of the mouths appear more natural, one would have to charm the lips independently. If they could somehow be separated from the rest of the stone face and treated as discrete targets, then they could move about as much as necessary without distorting the whole head. This resulted in Pygmalion creating a statue so lifelike in form, speech, and movement that the Muggle poet Ovid attributed the statue’s animation to the goddess Venus.

The Romans’ spells to animate figures were lost during the rise of Christianity, but the older enchantments for speech remained. Prior to the Medieval period, the spells allowed for subjects only to repeat several phrases of a set script, which quickly became more of a nuisance due to paintings repeatedly shouting their lines. Enchanted artwork often remained locked in closets after its completion rather than being displayed; and some magical artists began placing hinges on the frames of their enchanted paintings so that the sound from the boxed artwork was muffled. These boxed displays later influenced European triptychs and altarpieces.

During the Medieval period, magical artists worked towards imbuing the speaking subjects with reason, which called for spells that were very taxing and required a great deal of time from both artist and the subject. Having the subject of a portrait teach his or her painting to think as the subject would do in life started becoming more and more common, and if the painting was done posthumously, friends and family would take up this task. This quest for reason sparked Medieval wizards to bring back to light the work of their Classical ancestors and search for Daedalus’ spells. Around the time of the founding of Hogwarts, these Medieval wizards rediscovered Pygmalion’s spells, which brought animation to magical artwork. Once the subjects in a painting were made to move, it was easy to apply the same charms to aspects in the background such as creating a breeze through leaves or making waves crash and recede along a shoreline, and even enabling the enchanted subjects to interact with enchanted background aspects. From here, it seemed only natural for magical artists to further these enchantments for their artwork. Renaissance wizards developed a more complicated spell that allowed figures to leave their painting for another that was specifically dedicated for their use. However it wasn’t until the Baroque period, where the capturing of movement was the ultimate goal, that a way to truly connect paintings was created.

During the mid-1600s, magical portrait artist Gil Thimblestein had a subject in one of his works who wished a liaison with another painter’s subjects. Thimblestein brushed it off at first due to such a feat was not possible at the time, however, the constant chatter of his subjects eventually irritated Thimblestein so much that he vowed to make it possible for his subjects to be able to whisper in one another’s ears. The imitation worlds of portrait subjects truly opened up when Thimblestein did finally discover a method for connecting paintings, using the implied space as a basis, allowing subjects to move freely between them. We can compare his breakthrough to something like the Floo Network, or the Muggle internet. While we know that a magical portrait subject lounging about in a Muggle art museum would break the Statute of Secrecy, many portrait subjects can be rather ornery and would never restrict themselves to self-imposed limits. Because Muggle art is not “networked,” so to speak, with many magical paintings, Muggles are safe from the prying eyes of our moving pictures. Over time, so many paintings have been networked together that it can sometimes be quite difficult to hunt down the subject of a portrait. Often, however, they seem to find their own frames to be a comfortable home, and will usually return. Reports from subjects who travel frequently about what it’s like to move between paintings have been instrumental in advancing the field; as magical art continues to develop, we’re essentially creating a vast artificial world, populated, and now directly influenced, by countless artificial people... which makes excellent fodder for late-night armchair philosophy.

Now that you have a bit of background on some of the history of magical portraiture, it goes without saying that there are many, many spells involved in bringing your painting to life. There are some that take so much time and skill to cast, let alone explain, that we will be only looking at one today. However, should you choose to pursue a career in magical art, you will definitely have many chances to learn and use the plethora of other spells.

The Recitation Spell

Incantation: Vocifico revolvo (repeated thrice)

Pronunciation: voe-SEE-fee-coh reh-VOL-voh

Movement: A downward-pointing triangle, moving straight across the top from left to right, then down to a point and back up as in a backwards “V”, repeated thrice.

Willpower: Low

Concentration: High

The Recitation Spell will cause the painting on which it is cast to recite words of your choosing, and its lips to move naturally while doing so. Among animation spells, it’s considered relatively simple. It doesn’t require a lot of power, but control and concentration are critical. When performing the incantation, move slowly. The triangle doesn’t need to be very big; in fact, it’s best to keep it approximately the size of the mouth you’re trying to animate. Try to keep the tip of your wand more or less targeted on that area. Raise your wand and start at what will be the top left corner of your upside-down triangle. Drag it to the right in a straight line as you say “voe-see-fee”. Turn to go down and slightly left for “fee-coh reh”, reaching the bottom and turning up again for “reh-vol-voh” and pausing slightly while you say the last syllable. The closer to your starting point you finish, the better. The corners of your triangle should happen roughly during “voe”, “fee”, “reh”, and “voh” but this doesn’t need to be extremely precise. It should be rhythmic and steady, and with practice, you’ll find what works best for you. You may find it helpful to practice saying the incantation and moving your wand, without using any willpower to actually cast, just to get used to saying it and finding the rhythm. I would also like to point out that this differs greatly from sentient portraits as they do not have a script.

The incantation and wandwork for this spell is actually the easy part. You should have a painting, of course, and the script, something in mind that you want the subject to say. Start with something very simple, like “Hello!” Face your painting, clear your head, steady your mind. You will start by pointing your wand at the mouth of the subject, reciting the incantation and making the triangle. Then, maintaining your concentration, you will touch the tip of your wand to your throat while you repeat the script (“Hello!), then repeat the incantation and movement. Then you will touch your wand lightly to the corner of your lips, repeat the script, and finally repeat the incantation and movement again. So, you’ll perform the following sequence:

1. Incantation and triangle
2. Script with wand at throat
3. Incantation and triangle
4. Script with wand at lips
5. Incantation and triangle

It is absolutely critical that you maintain complete focus and concentration throughout this process, so you can see why it’s best to start with a very short script. Leave your eyes on the lips of the subject throughout the casting. Visualize your own lips saying the script as you repeat it, and your subject’s lips moving similarly as you draw the triangle. This probably won’t stick the first time, and you’ll need to repeat the spell (steps two through five), all while maintaining your concentration, until you begin to see the subject’s lips move. Eventually, they should repeat the script along with you for the final time; then, you’ll know that you can finish with the last incantation. It’s recommended that you practice in a quiet room where you can’t be interrupted or distracted mid-spell. If you would ever want your painting to stop reciting its script, simply casting the Effect Canceling Charm will stop the effects of the Recitation Spell.

It is possible to cast this spell in tandem with another person. The painting will use the voice and inflection you give to it, so an elderly old man is not going to want to recite the script himself for a painting of a young girl. One can employ experienced voice actors for this purpose. The wand will be touched to the throat and lips of the voice actor (who must also be a witch or wizard, and must also exert some degree of magical will during the casting), and the actor and painter together will repeat the incantation while the painter performs the wand movement. A successful joint casting requires an extraordinary amount of skill and patience, so it isn’t done very often. It can also be extremely dangerous; remember that, in general, you should never point your wand at yourself or another person. This spell can backfire if you employ too much willpower; it’s a gentle casting, and it doesn’t need much. If you’re working slowly, then you should be alright if you backfire. You may find your voice altered slightly, or perhaps taste paint for a while. If you push too much power into the spell, you may cause serious damage or injury. Do not practice this spell alone; ask someone to sit quietly in the room with you and supervise. If you do backfire, even mildly, see the nurse immediately.

That concludes today’s lecture. Hurry up and pack up your belongings before meeting me outside in the hallway for our portrait tour. If you already have a copy of The Essential Guide to Hogwarts Portraiture, 2nd Edition, then I would suggest bringing it with you to reference on our tour; if not, it’s readily available in the library to read after the tour. Along with the portrait interview, you also have an extra credit assignment where you can try out the Recitation Spell. With that, I will be stepping out now and we will be leaving in approximately five minutes!

Original lesson written by Professors Aerianna Aolen and Sarissa Greenwich
Additional portions written by Professor Serafina Rosenquist