Robert Anning Bell was born in London, was trained as a painter at the Royal Academy Schools in 1881 and afterwards at the Westminster School of Art. He later worked under Aime Morot in Paris and George Frampton in London. Frampton, who became the leader of the Craft of Sculptors and who set up the Art Workers guild in 1884, was largely responsible for encouraging artists to expand the variety of their materials and techniques. Anning Bell became a master of the Art Worker's Guild and, in addition to his paintings, made polychrome plaster relief images in the `arts and craft' style Robert Anning Bell also designed mosaics for the Houses of Parliament and also Westminster Cathedral.