Tate Wilkinson, writing in 1790, refers to a scene then in use which he remembered so far back as the year 1747.

"It has wings and a flat of Spanish figures at full length, and two folding-doors in the middle.

I never see those wings slide on, but I feel as if seeing my old acquaintance unexpectedly." Of later scene-painters, such as Roberts and Stanfield, Grieve and Telbin, and to come down to the present time, Beverley and Calcott, Hawes Craven and O'Connor, there seems little occasion to speak; the achievements of these artists are matters of almost universal knowledge.

It is sufficient to say that in their hands the art they practise has been greatly advanced, even to the eclipse now and then of the efforts of both actors and dramatists.
Some few notes, however, may be worth making in relation to the technical methods adopted by the scene-painter.

In the first place, he relies upon the help of the carpenter to stretch a canvas tightly over a frame, or to nail a wing into shape; and subsequently it is the carpenter's duty, with a small sharp saw, to cut the edge of irregular wings, such as representations of foliage or rocks, an operation known behind the curtain as "marking the profile." The painter's studio is usually high up above the rear of the stage--a spacious room, well lighted by means of skylights or a lantern in the roof.