For many years during the early part of his career he was engaged in drawing on wood-blocks for the engraver, from which he acquired a minuteness in detail that continued to pervade his paintings in later life. The result was that he produced scenes from Nature with an exactness that the most uninitiated in art are able to understand and appreciate. The chief features, however, in Birket Foster's paintings are the poetic feeling with which he indued them, and the care and felicity with which his compositions were selected. These qualities lend a great charm to his drawings, and especially to those representing the homely scenes, so frequently selected from that picturesque part of Surrey, where he lived for many years. He revelled in sunny landscapes, with sheep roaming in the distance and with rustic children playing in the foreground; he was also attracted by peaceful red-brick cottages covered with thatch, and enlivened by domestic scenes. It is perhaps by these rural paintings that the artist is best known. He, however, wandered far afield in search of the picturesque; he was an indefatigable painter, and produced works selected from all parts of England, Wales, and Scotland. Birket Foster was especially partial to the Northern counties and the district surrounding his native town in Northumberland. His rambles were not confined solely to his own country; he travelled frequently on the Continent; Venice, as well as the Rhine, had its charms for him. The picturesque scenery of Brittany has also been portrayed by his brush, and on one occasion he went as far as Spain and Morocco in pursuit of his art. Birket Foster, as he is generally known, or Myles Birket Foster, to give him his full name, was born at North Shields on February 4, 1825. His ancestors held good social positions for many generations in the North Country, and were staunch members of the Society of Friends. One, Sarah Forster, as the family name was originally spelt, married a descendant of Margaret Fell of Swathmoor Hall, who, after the death of her first husband, Judge Fell, was united to George Fox, the founder of the Quakers. In 1830 the artist's father migrated with his family to London, voyaging all the way by sea. He took up his residence at 40 Charlotte Street, Portland Place, and founded the well-known firm of M. B. Foster and Sons. Quitting school at an early age, young Birket Foster was at first placed in his father's business; but, owing to an accident, he did not remain long in that position.