He became a pupil of Louis Haghe, and in 1835 received from the Society of Arts their silver Isis medal for a lithographic drawing of the ruins of the Houses of Parliament after the fire of 1834.
[1] Picken then established himself as a lithographer, and had earned a reputation by the excellent quality of his work when in 1837 his health broke down.
During a residence of two years he drew a series of views of the island, which, on his return to England, were published under the title Madeira Illustrated, 1840, with interesting letterpress edited from his notes by James Macaulay.
[1] During his brief career he executed on stone a large number of landscapes, mainly illustrations to books of travel and private commissions.
[1] After a short break Picken found it necessary to revisit Madeira; but his disease was terminal, he came back to London, and he died there on 24 June 1845.