Characteristic painting is lifted by it (5)
I believe the answer is:
trait
'characteristic' is the definition.
(I know that trait is a type of characteristic)
'painting is lifted by it' is the wordplay.
'painting' becomes 'art' (painting is an art).
'is lifted' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (going up in down clue).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'art' written backwards gives 'tra'.
'tra'+'it'='TRAIT'
(Other definitions for trait that I've seen before include "Idiosyncrasy" , "Characteristic or distinguishing quality" , "Attribute, characteristic" , "Decorative band" , "Distinguishing characteristic of personality" .)