| Harry Potter question about something JKR said in an interview?

Harry Potter question about something JKR said in an interview?

♥HP_Fanatic♥ asked:


JKR, when talking about the hufflepuff common room, said it was close to the portrait. And then she said the following quote:

“Sorry - I should say ‘painting’ rather than portrait, because it is a still-life. ”

But my confusion is that, wasn’t the fat lady a painting?? If so, she wasn’t still-life?? or was that just my imagination that she was a painting?. I read on wikipedia:

The Fat Lady is the subject of a painting on the seventh floor of Hogwarts Castle. Her portrait guards the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Students must tell her the password that she has created to enter the Gryffindor common room.

There it calls it both a painting and a portrait.

So i’m really confused. Is this just another mistake JKR said, or am I not getting something?

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Comments

4 Responses to “Harry Potter question about something JKR said in an interview?”

  1. Joel R on May 15th, 2009 4:20 am

    It’s a painted portrait.

  2. AverageJosette on May 22nd, 2009 1:06 pm

    Let me see if I can clarify this:

    What JKR seems to mean is that a painting is a depiction of a non-living subject and a portrait is a depiction of a living subject (picture of a landscape = painting. Picture of the Fat Lady = portrait).

    Wikipedia seems to use these two words interchangeably, whereas JKR does not.

    I hope that made sense.

    P.S. I absolutely LOVE your avatar.

  3. DeeDee on May 23rd, 2009 11:02 am

    I guess I’m not getting it either…

  4. Silver Phoenix on May 25th, 2009 5:00 am

    it was probably a slip of tongue, or she wanted to sound funny or something. well, a portrait is technically supposed to be a picture of somebody. so i dont think portaits are really “still-life”