He was baptised on 27 July 1845, at St. Mark's, Surbiton, south-west London, along with his younger brother Henry (born c.

[4] His parents were John Pinwell,[note 2] a carpenter or builder, and his wife, Mary Ann Baker.

[5] Pinwell's father was thought to have been involved in building the original Surbiton railway station in south-west London.

"[7]: 155 Williamson states that Pinwell's his first drawing appeared in Lilliput Levee in 1862, a book of rhymes for children by Matthew Browne(a pseudonym used by William Brighty Rands[15])[1]: 4-5 [note 6] He executed several designs for the silversmiths Elkington's.

[1]: 6 Pinwell belonged to the small group of watercolour painters which included Frederick Walker and Arthur Boyd Houghton, whose style came from drawing on wood for book-illustration.

Pinwell, Walker, and Houghton, three young men "who did so much for wood engraving in the sixties" all died in 1875 within seven months of each other.

Roget notes the many similarities between the lives of Pinwell and Walker: both died early in their careers, Pinwell was two and a half years younger than Walker, and survived him by only three months, both were partially educated at Heatherley's Academy, both began their profession as draughtsmen on wood, and in some cases worked on the same books, both died from consumption[note 7] after attempting to stem it with a winter in Africa, they shared a common style, and shared common subjects, and had posthumous exhibitions at M. Deschamp's gallery in London after their deaths.

[note 8] The name seems to come from the book Idyllic Pictures, an anthology of illustrations from The Quiver, printed from the original wood blocks, each accompanied by a poem, many of which were published for the first time.

[18] A Round of Days (George Routledge and Sons, London, 1866)[19] also consisted of poems with individual illustrations, is "sometimes considered archetypally Idyllic in spirit",[17]: 88  and as it contains work by Walker and North as well as Pinwell and Houghton, is probably more representative of the school.

The Dalziel Brothers described the title as having been "chosen to designate a collection of Poems and Pictures representing every-day scenes, occurrences, and incidents in various phases of assistance.

[22][note 9] The Globe stated that the watercolour was "dramatic in feeling" and showed "the most accurate perception of individual character."

However, Liveing states that Pinwell was a better black-and-white artist than Henry Anelay (1817-1883), who illustrated Cassell's version.

[26] Pinwell also illustrated several other books which were engraved by the Dalziels' including Jean Ingelow's poems, Robert Buchanan's Ballads of the Affections, and the Arabian Nights.

Pinwell's first magazine illustration was for a poem by George Walter Thornbury called The Saturnalia, which appeared in volume eight of Once a Week on 31 January 1863.

His art was "hampered constantly by imperfect technique" but that "its very failures are more interesting than the successes of cleverer draughtsmen.

[7]: 155  The Graphic stated that Pinwell "did too much to do all things well, and, on the whole, although his originality and ability were beyond question, he never did quite justice to the genuine powers he possessed.

"[20] The Globe noted that "It is significant of the fine quality of Pinwell's art that many of his works are the property of artists.