Maggie Collins, as seen by Grandma Moses

[Gothick]

Well, the arrival of Mrs. Maggie Collins' studio portrait from Paris (in a box that looks like it came from a Coney Island stall) certainly tells one a lot about the taste (?) of her husband.  I've seen far better efforts by a 6th grader armed with a decent assortment of crayola crayons.

We need a poll for worst portrait on Dark Shadows.  It might be a toss-up between this one and the original Charles Delaware Tate portrait of Quentin, which made one of the most attractive men on Earth look as if he were dying of dyspepsia and sunburn.

For best portrait, I'd probably vote for Sam's sketch of Betty Hanscombe.  The portrait of aged Quentin is a fun example of a very particular genre.

any other thoughts?

Gothick

[LoveAtFirstBITE]

Without a doubt, hands down, the Charles D. Tate portrait.  It makes Quentin look bloated!

[Raineypark]

I've seen far better efforts by a 6th grader armed with a decent assortment of crayola crayons.Gothick

Thank you dear....that was my tears-in-my-eyes laugh of the day.

I don't care for portraits....but if dear departed Sam Evans did any sailboats out in say, Narragansett Bay (perhaps from a honeymoon trip to Rhode Island) I'd be happy to start the bidding! 

[Gerard]

I was gonna say that Maggie's portrait does look like something a high-school junior would make for inclusion in the town-wide "Youth Art Month Display" at the local shopping mall.

Gerard

[Maria_Merriweather]

Worst portrait--Quentin by C.D. Tate

Best portrait--Josette

[Bob_the_Bartender]

I was "mesmerized" by that piece of masking tape, artfully placed just above the word "Original" on that shipping box containing Maggie's exquisite portrait.

Could the "redacted" word/words have possibly identified the creator of this artistic masterpiece?  Maybe the the words, "A John Nagy Learn-to-Draw," appeared just above the word "Original"?

Of course, Maggie's portrait may have been painted while Quentin and Maggie had been enjoying a lively night's musical entertainment at a seashore disco in Nice during their honeymoon on the French Riviera.  Perhaps the always creative rock singer/painter Alex Harvey was inspired to limn Maggie's timeless likeness as the aptly named "Alex Harvey Band," wailed into the wee hours of the French night, much to Quentin's delight.  Hence, "An Alex Harvey Original"!

[Eleanor_Rigby]

That portrait of Maggie looks like it was paint-by-numbers and so I'll vote for that one as worst.

Best one ... the one of PT Angelique is just beautiful.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Best one ... the one of PT Angelique is just beautiful.

I agree - I love that potrait. And the contrast between it and Maggie's couldn't be more striking.

[ProfStokes]

Best one ... the one of PT Angelique is just beautiful.

I agree - I love that potrait. And the contrast between it and Maggie's couldn't be more striking.

I wonder if this was subconsciously done on purpose to illustrate how much more vibrant Angelique is compared to mousy Maggie, the 2nd Mrs. DeWinter figure.

Best and worst: I also admire the PT Angelique portrait, but I did think Sam Evans's painting of Laura the phoenix and David was striking.  The worst portrait was Charles Tate's marathon commission for Chris Jennings.  That painting probably failed to cure him because it didn't look a thing like him.

ProfStokes

[Cassandra]

Im so glad that this topic was brought up because I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that so called portrait of Maggie!!   It looked more like it was done out in the country side than it did in Paris as Quentin had stated it was done.
 The only plus side was that it did look exactly like her, which is hard to say for most of the other portraits aside from Angelique's.

When the package first came I exptected to see an elegant portrait of the new Mrs. Collins all dolled up the way Angelique was in her portrait.  Instead my Mother and I just sat there with our eyes wide opening wondering why they decided to have Maggie looking more like a country school girl who had just come in from milking the cows.  What were they thinking??

I think Angelique's portrait is the best I've seen so far and as Prof.Stokes said, Laura's was very nicely done also.


Cassandra

[Gerard]

Actually, with Maggie's portrait, we should count our blessings.  It could've been on black velvet - with her having those great, big, round sad eyes.

Gerard

[TERRY308]

The 'portrait' of Maggie looks like a 10th grader with an assortment of colored pencil did it.

If the 10th grader came to me and had this painting I would say "This is really good"  If this had been same 'portait' had come Collinwood by express mail, from France, suposedly painted (I still think that it was done with colored pencils) by some French person, I would have to say, "What the hell is this"

In other words....I hate it.

[Cassandra Blair]

Actually, with Maggie's portrait, we should count our blessings.  It could've been on black velvet - with her having those great, big, round sad eyes.

HA!!!  Even THAT would have been an improvement over the portrait we saw.  Thank goddess Quentin slashed it, 'cos if he hadn't, I would've!

[Happybat]

The only plus side was that it did look exactly like her, which is hard to say for most of the other portraits aside from Angelique's.

I was thinking exactly the same thing, Cassandra, er Bad_Dream.  Interestingly enough, although it is pretty bad artistically, the likeness is actually good. It just goes to show how a good likeness does not necessarily make good art and vice versa.  The Josette portrait may be more artistic, but it doesn't look much like its subject.

The best portrait of all is that of PT Angelique; it is both a good likeness and fairly accomplished technically.

Actually I have always liked the old portrait of Barnabas, too, although the eyes aren't quite right.

Regarding the aged Quentin portrait, did anyone here notice that it looks eerily similar to Dorian's portrait in the final scene of the movie "Picture of Dorian Gray"?  I could almost swear that it is by the same artist.

-Happy[blackbat] (who feels that being a published author like Mark would be nice indeed!)

[jennifer]

i vote for the Amanda Harris one just because it is of HER!
i do agree it does look like A paint by numbers and with closer viewing you can see where they missed a few numbers! i think it was done quickly for the storyline and it shows![eek]

jennifer aka barfly gulp...