布雷特出生在赖盖特-班斯1831年12月8日,一支军队老兵的儿子。1851年,他开始在艺术课程詹姆斯·达菲尔德哈丁山水画家。他还研究了理查德·雷德格雷夫。1853年,他进入了皇家学院,但是更感兴趣的观点约翰拉斯金和威廉·霍尔曼狩猎通过他的朋友相识,诗人考文垂Patmore。灵感来自狩猎的理想科学的山水画布雷特访问瑞士,在那里他从事地形景观和受到的进一步影响约翰威廉Inchbold.

1858年布雷特展出“碎石机”,这幅画,他的声誉。这描绘一个青年砸石头创建一个路面,坐在明亮和详细的景观。地质和植物细节的精确性大大印象Ruskin,高度赞扬了这幅画,预测,布雷特能画出一幅杰作吧如果他访问Val d 'Aosta在意大利。部分由拉斯金,布雷特去油漆的位置,表现出在1859年再次好评从拉斯金,谁买了这幅画。其他批评者不太热情洋溢,称其为一个“post-Ruskinism墓碑”。^[2]

布雷特继续画仔细详细景观的观点,住在意大利多次在1860年代。他总是热衷于强调自然科学精密的渲染,但往往把它泡在道德和宗教意义,推荐了拉斯金。晚年他画更多的沿海科目和海景,科目他知道由于他拥有一个210吨的帆船,维京(12名船员),他的旅行地中海.^[3]

在夏天在1880年代布雷特租了城堡纽波特,彭布罗克郡使用作为一个基础为他的大家庭虽然他画,画和威尔士南部和西部海岸拍照。一个展览在2001年威尔士国家博物馆,卡迪夫名为约翰·布雷特-威尔士海岸上的拉菲尔前派的召集了许多他职业生涯的这一时期的主要作品。

布雷特也是一个敏锐的天文学家,在研究了从童年。他当选的一员皇家天文学会在1871年。布雷特是一个艺术的创始人成员1890年工人工会和掌握。

Brett was born near Reigate on 8 December 1831, the son of an army vet. In 1851 he began lessons in art with James Duffield Harding, a landscape painter. He also studied with Richard Redgrave. In 1853 he entered the Royal Academy schools, but was more interested in the ideas of John Ruskin and William Holman Hunt, whom he met through his friend the poet Coventry Patmore. Inspired by Hunt's ideal of scientific landscape painting Brett visited Switzerland, where he worked on topographical landscapes and came under the further influence of John William Inchbold.

In 1858 Brett exhibited "The Stonebreaker", the painting that made his reputation. This depicted a youth smashing stones to create a road-surface, sitting in a brightly lit and brilliantly detailed landscape. The precision of the geological and botanical detail greatly impressed Ruskin, who praised the painting highly, predicting that Brett would be able to paint a masterpiece if he were to visit the Val d'Aosta in Italy. Partly funded by Ruskin, Brett made the trip to paint the location, exhibiting it in 1859, again to high praise from Ruskin, who bought the painting. Other critics were less effusive, one describing it as a "gravestone for post-Ruskinism".^[2]

Brett continued to paint carefully detailed landscape views, staying in Italy on many occasions in the 1860s. He was always keen to stress the scientific precision of his rendering of nature, but often infused it with moral and religious significance, as recommended by Ruskin. In his later years he painted more coastal subjects and seascapes, subjects he came to know well due to his ownership of a 210-ton schooner, Viking (which had a crew of twelve), on which he travelled the Mediterranean.^[3]

During summers in the 1880s Brett rented the castle at Newport, Pembrokeshire to use as a base for his large family while he painted, sketched and photographed the south and west coasts of Wales. An exhibition in 2001 at the National Museum of Wales,Cardiff, entitled John Brett - a Pre-Raphaelite on the Shores of Wales brought together many of the major works from this period of his career.

Brett was also a keen astronomer, having studied the subject from childhood. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1871. Brett was a founder member of the Art Workers' Guild and Master in 1890.