Branwhite studied under his father, Nathan Cooper Branwhite, and W.J. Muller. He exhibited nine works at the Royal Academy and was elected an Associate of the Old Water Colour Society in 1849. He lived in Bristol, where Francis Danby was a close friend. Branwhite applied bodycolour so heavily that 'many of his drawings may be regarded as works in distemper'. (J.L. Roget, History of the Old Water Colour Society, 1991)