Albert Goodwin was born in Maidstone, Kent and initially worked as an apprentice draper, before studying art with the Pre-Raphaelite artists Arthur Hughes and Ford Madox Brown. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860, and became an associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) in 1876. He was championed by the famous art critic John Ruskin, and traveled extensively throughout Britain, Europe as well as further afield. He was a prolific artist who continued to paint well into his eighties and his wide variety of landscape subjects reflected his love of travel and show the influence of Turner.