(_c_) We have hitherto, in discussing the several points of view which are given effect to in the art of painting, referred, _firstly_, to its content, and _secondly_ to the sensuous medium in which such content can be built up. We have in conclusion to define the mode under which the artist is bound to conceive and execute his content as a painter and under the conditions of his particular medium. We will divide the very considerable matter which such an investigation implies in the following manner: _First_, we have to deal with the more _general_ distinctions in forms of _conception_, which it will be necessary to classify and follow in their progressive advance to richer manifestations of life. _Secondly_, we shall have to direct attention to the more definite aspects, which, within these general types of conception, are more directly referable to genuine pictorial _composition_, that is, the artistic motives apparent in the particular situation and manner of grouping selected. _Lastly_, we propose to review rapidly the mode of _characterization_, which results from distinctions of subject-matter no less than modes of conception. (_α_) With respect to the most generally prevailing modes of artistic conception[310], we shall find these are in some measure due to the content which has to be depicted, and in part are referable to the course of the art's evolution, which does not from the first seek to elaborate all that is apparent in any subject, but rather through a variety of stages and transitions makes itself fully mistress of Life and its manifestations.