The Picture of Dorian Gray

The first 6 chapters of this book have been very interesting and especially entertaining. I find Lord Henry to be extremely comical in that a majority of what he says contains two opposing ideals. Or in some cases it seems as if everything the reader thought was "true" about intellectuals, art, the upper class, etc. is actually not true at all. 

Dorian Gray interests me, as well, and I am curious about why he is so influential to Basil's art, to Lord Henry (he has 17/18 portraits of him). I think that his influence, specifically on Lord Henry grabs my attention. Because it seems that Lord Henry at the beginning tries to manipulate or push DG in a certain direction, making him think of new ideas, etc. But as Lady Henry says, he has over 17 portraits of the lad hanging in his house. 

This is very weird, because for someone who usually feels in "control" or the person that does the manipulating, having almost a relic or infatuation with someone else is uncommon. Or maybe it is not? I just feel as if Lord Henry is hiding a lot more than he leads on and that these portraits he keeps are a sign of how much influence DG really has, unknowingly.