Maestro (Empath stories)

Maestro is a character who is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. He is an artist who was trapped in a painting by somebody who didn't appreciate his work, and had met the Smurfs about three years before Empath returned home from Psychelia, with Painter being the first Smurf to meet him. Desiring to leave his prison, Maestro had Painter mix a magical oil into his paints so that he would eventually paint a portrait of someone who was close to him in order for Maestro to leave his prison. As it turned out, Painter created a portrait of Papa Smurf, which then imprisoned the real Papa Smurf into the painting and set Maestro free to do whatever he wished with his magic paints. When Maestro saw Smurfette, he set his sights on making her his "eternal inspiration", but in order to get the magic paints away from Maestro in order to trap him back into a painting, Smurfette set up a contest that would allow the best artist to have her as their "eternal inspiration". Eventually Painter got the magic paints and used them to paint Maestro's portrait so that he would return to being imprisoned in a painting while Papa Smurf was set free from his painting.