The Art of the Magical Portraitist

The first time Anton saw Dumbledore wearing the expression of an innocent child who had done something wrong, his old, wrinkled hands rapidly flipping through thick tomes. Before long, he tossed one book aside and hurriedly opened another.

The entire table was piled high with all kinds of reference materials.

Anton casually glanced over them: The Secrets of Portrait-Making, The Consolation of the Departed, Beware! Portraits Are Not Real Life, Dwelling on the Past Means Missing the Present...

He picked up one at random and flipped through it, only to find a lengthy passage written on the title page.

—Please remember this: a portrait is a portrait; a portrait is not the wizard himself. No one could endure being confined to a tiny place day after day, year after year, holding the same pose and doing the same things every day. But a portrait can.

—A portrait's intelligence comes from the magical ability of the wizard portrayed, from the magical environment in which the portrait resides (they generally retain a special vitality only in places such as ancient castles and old manor houses), from the artist's skill at the time of painting, and from the artist's understanding of the wizard being portrayed (this is especially important!).

—A self-painted portrait will not necessarily behave exactly like its real-life subject, because the person who understands us least is often ourselves!

—When my Apprentices study portraiture, they all receive this advice from me: do not distill a person's traits, do not exaggerate a person's features, and do not form stereotypes about a person. Otherwise, there will be serious consequences: the person in the portrait will become the image others have of them, rather than the person who was actually painted. (This is the worst possible state! It is also the most common mistake