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A Daniel Radcliffe portrait, sans the magic

Charlotte Higgins

The painting goes on display in London

Daniel Radcliffe, a file photo

London: There is no scar, no trademark wire-rimmed spectacles and no sign of a magic wand. This is Daniel Radcliffe, 16, stripped of his Harry Potter togs and drawn as a very ordinary teenager: frank, alert and curious. The drawing is part of a group of portraits of British actors — including Michael Gambon, John Hurt and Rosamund Pike — by Stuart Pearson Wright, who won the BP Portrait award in 2001.

They went on display at the National Theatre and the National Portrait Gallery in London from Wednesday; the gallery has just bought nine of the images, including the portrait of Radcliffe. He is the youngest sitter, apart from royalty, to make it into the gallery's permanent collection.

Pearson Wright — who notoriously once painted Prince Philip naked from the waist up — said Radcliffe had been "enthusiastic and helpful. He couldn't have been a more agreeable sitter. I dropped my rubber at one point and he practically threw himself across the room to pick it up for me." But, he said, he felt that this was "not my best drawing," and he had felt stumped by Radcliffe's very cheerfulness and youth. "It was quite a challenge," said Pearson Wright.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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