The Canterbury-born artist was an RA student from 1824, and further studied at the BM.  After teaching in Canterbury he travelled to France, Holland and Belgium, where he  was much influenced by the Belgian animal painter Verboeckhoven, and the 17th Century Dutch school.

Though amongst the sketching grounds mentioned in Mallalieu, Cornwall was not listed (Devon the nearest); Bednar has noted paintings of Penzance and Land's End at the RA (1891).  One of his oil paintings, Three Cows and a Bull (1879) is in the fine art collection of the RCM, Truro.

Wood describes his landmark series Landscape and Cattle at the RA (beginning 1833), with 266 exhibits in all shown until 1902 without a break - a 'record for continuous exhibiting at the Academy'.

He returned to live near Canterbury from 1860, but travelled extensively on working visits, and due to the popularity of his work repetitions and fakes of his pictures abound.