Friday 1 June 2012

When You Least Expect It...

I was off-duty on Wednesday.  Mrs Geary, Miss Holman and myself had taken a road trip to The Harry Potter Experience at the Warner Bros Studio at Leavesden, the last place in the world I expected to be surprised by Pre-Raphaelites.  How wrong I was...


We were dressed a bit like witches and were having a jolly time as we entered the huge wooden doors into the Great Hall....


Yes, yes, so far, so un-Pre-Raphaelite, although as you can see by the ghost dress above, the flavour of Hogwarts is a tad Gothic.  The sets are gorgeous and the room beyond the Great Hall is full of set after set, with things hanging or standing, in cases or just in front of you.  There is so much to see that you can spend a goodly amount of time just standing with your mouth open in astonishment.  My day turned a very interesting corner when we were admiring the set of the Gryffindor common room, when I spotted this rather lovely painting...


In the world of Harry Potter, this is a portrait of Professor McGonagall as a young woman.  I was very taken with this picture as it reminded of aesthetic domestic figures, such as this one by James McNeill Whistler...


I thought it was lovely, and made me smile, to think that even in a modern film set I could find Victorian art.  Then I came face to face with a wall of wizarding portraits...


As readers (and viewers) of the Harry Potter stories will know, the portraits that hang on the walls of Hogwarts are magic and the figures can move about and talk.  All of them are famous witches or wizards, and at first glance they seemed to be just made-up paintings.  Then one of them, just level with us, caught my eye...

Unknown Witch...

I know you!  You're Mary Shelley!

Mary Shelley (not a witch, as far as I know)
 At that moment, in the dimmed lighting, I began to scour the wall for other familiar faces...

I found Lord Ribblesdale...


 ...Disraeli...

and Elizabeth Barrett Browning....


and I think I even saw Swinburne, way up in the gloomy top row.  All these portraits were just subtly altered, like the one of Mary Shelley, with the addition of the odd wand or cloak.  There was one that didn't appear to be altered at all and for a moment I just stared and thought 'That wizard is awfully familiar...' because it made perfect sense that he was a wizard...

Of course you're a wizard, William...
It all makes perfect sense...















William Morris makes a very convincing wizard indeed, and what made me chuckle was how little he seemed to have been changed to fit the bill.  I don't know if the person who had painted the portraits had been especially fond of Victorian art, or if the style of Victorian portraiture fitted the general aesthetic of Hogwarts (as envisaged by the film makers), but it was possibly the highlight of my day. And I rode a broomstick, so that is saying something.

Now I need to watch all the films again and see if I can spot William the Wizard.  So that's what he was doing in Iceland....

10 comments:

  1. And that's one of the main reasons why I love the Harry Potter series! It's even been suggested that there was a Gandalf painting in Dumbledore's office! Did you see it? I need to go to the studios! *__*

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  2. How fun for you! I love sly references that pop up in movies.

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  3. I always knew William Morris was a wizard. I am SO vindicated...

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  4. That would explain how he could do so many things. I am sure he had a time turner Stephanie.

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  5. If it had been me who discovered Topsy on the wizard wall, I would have screamed and squealed till I was kicked out. So awesome!!!

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  6. Yes, I absolutely loved the version of the Albrecht Durer full-face selfportrait altered to be of Gary Oldman in Dracula. Always wondered if he got to keep it ...

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  7. Sadly, I didn't see a Gandalf painting :) Seeing sneaky Pre-Raph references is like someone having a private giggle with you. Seeing Top was like seeing an old friend, which is always lovely :)

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  8. oh my paws and whiskers - wonderful.

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  9. Of course, unless you know your art as well as you do, most of these would go pass unnoticed. Thank you for pointing them out to me - not that I think I'll make it to the experience.

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  10. Ah! How wonderful! I must schedule a visit here when I'm over after the olympics rush :)

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Many thanks for your comment. I shall post it up shortly! Kx