Portrait of Angelique

The Portrait of Angelique is a fictional item featured in the 1960s daytime Gothic soap opera series Dark Shadows. It first appeared in episode 464 in 1968 and served as a plot device to reintroduce the character of Angelique Collins into the modern timeline as Cassandra Blair.

History
The portrait of Angelique Bouchard is surrounded in mystery. It is unknown when the painting was commissioned or who the artist was. Much like it's subject, the painting seemed to possess its own supernatural properties.

In 1968, Roger Collins discovered the portrait in Collinsport and became intrinsically enamored with it. He brought it home where he kept it displayed on an easel in the drawing room at Collinwood. Most of the other residents of the household were captivated by the beauty of the woman in the painting, but none moreso than Roger himself. He became obsessed with the image, staring at it for hours. In the still of the night, when nobody else was around, the sound of Angelique's cackling laughter could be heard coming from the painting.

The more Roger became obsessed with staring at the portrait, the more he began to lose his own sense of identity. He forgot that he was Roger Collins and began believing himself to be his own ancestor from 1795, Joshua Collins.

Barnabas Collins - a vampire from 18th century had intimate knowledge of Angelique and knew her to be a witch. When he first saw the painting, he dreaded what its sudden appearance might mean for the rest of the Collins family. He tried to destroy the portrait, but was horrified to see that it had reconstituted itself only minutes later.

While enthralled by the portrait's influence, Roger Collins unwillingly began to execute Angelique's bidding. Armed with a harpoon, he attempted to kill a man named Doctor Lang.