Noted for his portraits, landscapes, and especially still life paintings of fish, Samuel Marsden Brookes was born in Newington Green, Middlesex, England in 1816.

His was a distinguished family, one that traced its ancestry back to Sir Fredrik Broke, a Dutch immigrant who was knighted by William of Orange in 1691, and his English wife, Lady Jane Marman, a lady-in-waiting at Court. Brookes father was a distinguished botanist who specialized in the study of fruits and operated a London nursery where he dealt in exotic imported plants. If Brookes family had remained in England, it is likely that Samuel would have pursued formal training in art after his graduation from private school, as he had always loved to draw and sketch.

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