Portraits of a Mad Genius: Artistic Interpretations of Fëanor by Morwinyoniel

Of all the Tolkien characters, the most difficult to portray are probably Lúthien and Fëanor; Lúthien because of her otherworldly beauty, Fëanor because of the combination of his great looks, power, and madness, which seem almost impossible to be captured in the same picture.

In the Silmarillion, he is described like this:

He was tall, and fair of face, and masterful, his eyes piercingly bright and his hair raven-dark; in the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. (Of Fëanor)
For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike, of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him. (Of the Sun and the Moon and the Darkening of Valinor)

His power comes out in pictures like this one by Luis Bejarano:

In it, he doesn’t look very beautiful though, neither in Daniel Govar’s portrayal, which provides a glimpse of his madness, though:

And, the combination of power and madness is definitely portrayed by Per Sjögren:

On the other hand, there are pictures that capture his beauty, but not necessarily the other aspects, like this sketch by Marta Aguado:

A glimpse of his fiery temper, combined with boyish charm, is visible in one of the drawings by Darkmage:

The most beautiful picture about him that I’ve seen so far was probably made by Ivanneth:

A very interesting portrayal, which comes quite close to capturing all the prominent characteristics of Fëanor, was made by CoE member Ecthelion_of_the_Fountain:

But, the ultimate portrait of the Noldorin mad genius still waits to be painted.