John Edward Newton was a member of the Liverpool Academy, exhibiting at its galleries between 1856 and 1867 and at the Royal Academy in London between 1862-81. Like other Liverpool School painters, he was highly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites in their use of pure glazes over a white ground and meticulous attention to detail. John Newton was a companion and friend of James Campbell and like him left Liverpool and moved to London. Their Pre-Raphaelite works are equally rare. Newton later sought to broaden his style and consequently abandoned what Marillier describes as his minuteness (H. C. Marillier, The Liverpool School of Painters, John Murray, London 1904, page 180).