John Emms was the son of the artist Henry William Emms and the brother-in-law of Sir William Richmond who was president of the Royal Academy for twenty years. As a young artist he worked as Frederick Lord Leighton's assistant. He exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy when he was 25 and continued to show there through 1903. He quickly established a reputation for animal painting, particularly for dog subjects. His accomplishments as a horseman and as a hunter provided him with a plethora of subjects and clients. His paintings are distinctive for their free and direct brushwork.