Clonney was born in Liverpool, England in 1812 and came to this country as a very young man. Records show that he was living in Philadelphia as early as 1830 and was in the employ of Child & Inman, a local lithography firm. After three years with Child & Inman, the artist made a living as a painter of miniature portraits and began exhibiting at the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He moved to New York in 1834, and in 1841, due to the success of several early genre paintings that he painted in the late 1830s, most notably In the Woodshed, 1838, now in the Karolik Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Clonney abandoned miniature painting for his favored genre subjects. In the present example, Clonney's interest in genre subjects, and his incredible talent that was groomed as a miniature portrait painter are apparent.

The artist spent most of his life in New York state, with addresses in New Rochelle, Cooperstown and Binghamton and he exhibited frequently at the National Academy of Design, the American Art Union, and the Pennsylvania Academy. He was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy in 1867, the year of his death.