pictures of the founders

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95256

Phil Vlasak wrote:
All this talk about portraits, got me thinking where are the 
> portraits  of the founders of Hogworts?
> 
> Portraiture in the sense that we Muggles think of it was not yet 
> developed in the tenth century (for us, it came along during the 
> Renaissance). Even granting that the Muggle and the Wizard world 
> develop along different tracks, I think it is also quite posssible 
> that the WW did not have portraiture at that time, either. QTA
speaks of an "illuminated manuscript" depicting broomflight, which
suggests that Wizard artists of that era worked in the same medium as
their Muggle contemporaries. 
> 
> Who is the oldest person depicted in a portrait - is there anyone 
> prior to Dilys Derwent of the early 18th Century (OOP, Chap. 22)?
 
  
And could the Fat Lady be Helga? If so, why would she conceal her
identity - and why isn't she in front of Hufflepuff where she would
logically belong?

CMC

I doubt that the Fat Lady (who IIRC is dressed in an 18th-century
gown) is "sweet" Helga Hufflepuff (as described by the Sorting Hat).
At any rate, her portrait, if there is one, would certainly be in the
headmaster's office or some other place of honor--certainly not the
entrance to the Gryffindor common room since she founded Hufflepuff
house, as you point out. (BTW, I assume that the entrance to the
Hufflepuff common room is hidden in some way, as that to Gryffindor
is, and a portrait of its founder would be a little too conspicuous.)
I was also under the impression that Dumbledore's office had portraits
of all the headmasters and headmistresses. Maybe that tradition began
after the last of the four founders died, since none of them had any
authority over the others?

In any case, I don't think Muggle portraiture has anything to do with
the Hogwarts portraits, which probably closely resemble the sitter
regardless of when they were painted. (Steve keeps talking about the
portraits containing a hair or other part of the person painted; I
hope he can provides us with a link to that interview!) As for the
oldest person in the portraits (other than those in DD's office), we
have Sir Cadogan, who appears to be wearing fifteenth-century plate
armor, and some sinister-looking monks, who are almost certainly
medieval as well, though the century could range from about the
eleventh to the sixteenth--some time before Henry VII, for
nonreligious reasons, established what is now the Church of England
and destroyed all the monasteries and abbeys (ca. 1536).

Carol