Harry Brooker was a domestic genre painter in the tradition of artists such as Thomas Webster, F.D. Hardy both members of the Cranbrook Colony. His paintings of interior scenes reveal the warmth and humour of Victorian domestic life, and he is particularly known for his sensitive and charming depictions of children. When first married, he lived in Southport, touring Wales as a private art tutor and exhibiting three works at the Royal Manchester Institution. He later moved back to London and exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street.