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Characters
The unnamed artist only appears as a character in the inner story of the narrative. The guide book that the narrator reads contains an account of his interactions with his young wife, the model for the titular oval portrait, is at the heart of Poe’s thematic concerns. The artist is a renowned portrait painter known for the obsessive and moody passion he injects into his work, and for his remarkable ability to create lifelike images of people. His passion for his art, however, eclipses the living, breathing reality of his wife, over whose portrait he labors day and night, seemingly unaware of the fact that this process is physically and psychologically detrimental for her. Poe implies that he’s a vampire of sorts—not in the sense of literally drinking people’s blood, of course, but in the sense of draining the vital energies of his model in order to imbue his work with a maximum degree of lifelikeness. He seems to regard his wife less as a fellow human being than as an inspiration for his art, and his wife ultimately dies while he overlooks her health to focus on the portrait. Poe uses the character of the artist to dramatize his critique of obsessive perfectionism, and also to suggest that artistic creation also inevitably entails some kind of destruction.
The Artist Quotes in The Oval Portrait
The The Oval Portrait quotes below are all either spoken by The Artist or refer to The Artist. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Oval Portrait
Quotes
I had found the spell of the picture in an absolute life-likeliness of expression, which, at first startling, finally confounded, subdued, and appalled me.
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She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee. And evil was the hour when she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter. He, passionate, studious, austere, and having already a bride in his Art; she a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee; all light and smiles, and frolicsome as the young fawn; loving and cherishing all things; hating only the Art which was her rival; dreading only the pallet and brushes and other untoward instruments which deprived her of the countenance of her lover. It was thus a terrible thing for this lady to hear the painter speak of his desire to portray even his young bride. But she was humble and obedient, and sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas only from overhead.
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[…] [T]he painter had grown wild with the ardor of his work, and turned his eyes from the canvas rarely, even to regard the countenance of his wife. And he would not see that the tints which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him
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And then the brush was given, and then the tint was placed; and, for one moment, the painter stood entranced before the work which he had wrought; but in the next, while he yet gazed, he grew tremulous and very pallid, and aghast, and crying with a loud voice, 'This is indeed Life itself!' turned suddenly to regard his beloved: She was dead!
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The Artist Quotes in The Oval Portrait
The The Oval Portrait quotes below are all either spoken by The Artist or refer to The Artist. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Oval Portrait
Quotes
I had found the spell of the picture in an absolute life-likeliness of expression, which, at first startling, finally confounded, subdued, and appalled me.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee. And evil was the hour when she saw, and loved, and wedded the painter. He, passionate, studious, austere, and having already a bride in his Art; she a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely than full of glee; all light and smiles, and frolicsome as the young fawn; loving and cherishing all things; hating only the Art which was her rival; dreading only the pallet and brushes and other untoward instruments which deprived her of the countenance of her lover. It was thus a terrible thing for this lady to hear the painter speak of his desire to portray even his young bride. But she was humble and obedient, and sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas only from overhead.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
[…] [T]he painter had grown wild with the ardor of his work, and turned his eyes from the canvas rarely, even to regard the countenance of his wife. And he would not see that the tints which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
And then the brush was given, and then the tint was placed; and, for one moment, the painter stood entranced before the work which he had wrought; but in the next, while he yet gazed, he grew tremulous and very pallid, and aghast, and crying with a loud voice, 'This is indeed Life itself!' turned suddenly to regard his beloved: She was dead!
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