J B Pyne, born at Bristol, intended for a career in the law, committed himself to painting in 1835 when he came to London.  He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1833 to 1839 and was Vice President of the Society of British Artists.

His earliest work on the Lake District seems to be pictures exhibited at the British Institute: Buttermere, 1825; and certainly the largest paintings that he undertook.  It was in November 1848 that he began Grasmere from Loughrigg which was the first of the series of paintings commissioned by Mr. Thomas Agnew of Manchester.  Twenty-Five were to be issued by Agnew’s, and this is one of the most magnificent series of coloured lithographs ever produced.