John Brett (1831-1902)

Born near Reigate, Surrey in 1831, John Brett was the son of an army veterinary surgeon who served as a captain in the 12th Lancers. Brett entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1853. His sympathy with the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and his reading of critic Ruskin's works led to his friendship with poet Coventry Patmore and an introduction to William Holman Hunt.

In Switzerland in 1856, Brett met J. W. Inchbold, and inspired by his work, wrote: "[I] there and then saw that I had never painted in my life, but only fooled and slopped, and thenceforth attempted in a reasonable way to paint all I could see". He stayed to complete his first major oil painting, 'The Glacier of Rosenlaui' (Tate Gallery, London), which Rossetti took to show Ruskin later that year. Brett exhibited at the 1857 Russell Place exhibition and was a member of the Hogarth Club. Ruskin praised his work in his 'Academy Notes', though criticised Brett's minutely detailed style as "Mirror's work, not Man's".

Brett was a prolific watercolourist in the 1860s, some of his best work deriving from visits to Italy and the Mediterranean. With his wife and seven children, he spent summers on board a yacht.

His later paintings include many brilliantly coloured coastal views in Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands. In 1871 Brett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, an honour reflecting his lifelong scientific interest. He died in Putney, London.