Joseph Finnemore (1860-1939) was born in Birmingham in 1860 and educated at the Birmingham School of Art and in Antwerp under Michel Marie Charles Verlat. Following a tour of Europe and the Near East in the early 1880, he settled in London in 1884. He was a prolific book and magazine illustrator, who worked particularly for the Religious Tract Society.He was also a painter in oils whose works include The Proclamation of King Edward VII at St. James' Palace January 24, 1901 and On the Lookout, A Stormy Night.He was a member of the Society of Illustrators, the Royal Society of British Artists (from 1893) and Royal Institute (from 1898).