ds be
adopted by other painters, no less certain is it that there are
numbers who at the onset of their career have not the least knowledge
of any one of these methods; and that it is chiefly for such that
these notes have been penned. In short, that to all about to paint
their first picture we address ourselves.

The first advice that should be given, on painting a historical
picture, ought undoubtedly to be on the choosing of a fit subject;
but, the object of the present paper being purely practical, it would
ill commence with a question which would entail a dissertation
bearing upon the most abstract properties of Art. Should it
afterwards appear necessary, we may append such a paper to the last
number of these articles; but, for the present, we will content
ourselves with beginning where the student may first encounter a
difficulty in giving body to his idea.

The first care of the painter, after having selected his subject,
should be to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the character of
the times, and habits of the people, which he is about to represent;
and next, to consult the proper authorities for his costume, and such
objects as may fill his canvass; as the architecture, furniture,
vegetation or landscape, or accessories, necessary to the elucidation
of the subject. By not pursuing this course, the artist is in danger
of imagining an effect, or disposition of lines, incompatible with
the costume of his figures, or objects surrounding them; and it will
be found always a most difficult thing to efface an idea that has
once taken possession of the mind. Besides which, it is impossible to
conceive a design with any truth, not being acquainted with the
character, habits, and appearance, of the people represented.

Having, by such means, secured the materials of which his work must
be composed, the artist must endeavour, as far as lies in his power,
to embody the picture in his thoughts, before having recourse to
paper. He must patiently consider his subject, revolving in his mind
every means that may assist the clear development of the story:
giving the most prominent places to the most important actors, and
carefully rejecting incidents that cannot be expressed by pantomimic
art without the aid of text. He must also, in this mental forerunner
of his picture, arrange the "grouping" of his figures,--that is, the
disposing of them in such agreeable clusters or situations on his
canvass as may be compatible