Definitions HQ

A Portrait (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a quasi-person with a quasi-face: even when I study the brush strokes, the figure gently solicits me to take him for a man.

A Portrait (n.) works ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by magic: the dead Charles VIII is at once over there in the past, as absolute, and here before us in a state of reduced life.

A Portrait (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠nature without people; an imitation is already a studied model, reduced to recipes and schemas — it gives the characteristic first.

A Portrait (n.) shows ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not Pierre as he was on some day last year but Pierre in general: 'Yes, it is just as he smiles' — one painted smile standing for a mass of his smiles.

A Portrait (n.) makes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠every judgement merely probable: 'Pierre has blue eyes' means 'at least, if the picture represents him faithfully.'