Portrait of Quentin Collins

"If this portrait is his only way of communicating with us, he's either been taken prisoner somewhere or is close to death... or Gerard has buried him alive!"

- Barnabas Collins

The portrait of Quentin Collins is a fictional item featured in the 1966-1971 gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. This item is a painting of the second man in the Collins family to go by the name of Quentin Collins.

The Portrait of Quentin Collins was rendered by Charles Delaware Tate and commissioned by Count Andreas Petofi in the year 1897. At the time, Tate was unaware that his canvases often had magical properties, imbued by the power Petofi had given to him. As Quentin Collins was not interested in having his portrait done (painted portraits were a bit passe by then, cabinet cards being the current vogue, but losing popularity to snapshots), the portrait was done from a photograph, augmented by one chance meeting between Collins and Tate at Collinwood, which ended with Tate being forceably removed. During a full moon, the image of Quentin Collins would turn into a werewolf, and miraculously, Quentin would not turn into a werewolf at that time. Furthermore, the portrait began to age instead of Quentin, making him effectively immortal.

The first person to see the painting transform was Charity Trask, although it was a brief occurrence, and Tate himself did not see it happen.

Decades later, the portrait had been painted over by Tate and renamed "A View of South Wales." In 1970, Doctor Julia Hoffman discovered it was in the possession of one Sky Rumson, who turned out to married to Angelique. Angelique agreed to let Julia borrow the painting, who had the landscape removed, revealing what Quentin would look like if he were 100 years old. Julia then used the portrait to help Grant Douglas regain his memory as Quentin Collins.

The portrait was revealed to still exist in 1995, when Barnabas and Julia were inadvertantly transported to the future. The two stumbled upon Quentin, who at the time was insane, but still retained his youthful appearance. The portrait was later revealed to be hidden in a room on the second floor of the Old House. Quentin wanted to destroy the portrait in order to kill himself, claiming he could have prevented the destruction of Collinwood by Gerard Stiles in 1970, but Barnabas and Julia stopped him before he could do so.

Notes & Trivia

 * The story of Quentin's portrait was based on Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Related categories

 * Portrait of Quentin Collins/Appearances