Old Millhouse - Clayton

Nathaniel Philips was born in Manchester where he attended Manchester Grammar School. His father, John Leigh Philips, was a Manchester manufacturer and friend of Joseph Wright of Derby, who as a young man had been part of the circle of WiIliam Roscoe. Philips went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, and whilst there he became associated with the Scottish artists around Sir William Allan. He toured Italy for three years and was elected a member of the Academy of St Luke, following the death of Henry Fuseli in 1825. He settled in Liverpool and exhibited at the Liverpool Academy and the Royal Manchester Institution.