Wizard paintings (was: Something that has been bugging me)

[medeacallous]

No: HPFGUIDX 61387

My theory about the wizard paintings is that they absorb magic from 
their magical environment over time, and slowly the characters 
within attain sentience.  Therefore, a painting done recently 
wouldn't have characters in it that were magically 'alive', but they 
might become alive after years and years in a strongly magical place 
like Hogwarts.

The other idea (maybe someone else has suggested this already) is 
that paintings are imbued with the consciousness of the subjects at 
the time of creation, which would mean that painting characters 
already dead would never 'come to life'.

MC