Set in Victorian England, in the nineteenth century. Basil Hallward is a talented painter who is slightly eccentric. He is creative, sensitive, and principled. Basil is a lover of beauty, and his aesthetic ideal contains a heavy streak of morality. Basil's caring and idealistic nature makes him a principled sore thumb among his hedonistic friends. He is friends with Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray, who is his former muse. He has brown, gentle eyes and dark black locks. Generous. Kind. Polite.