[5] After a period working as an errand boy for a doctor (from the age of 12), he was apprenticed to Francis Whisler, a house, coach and sign painter.

[2] Crome had access to Harvey's art collection, which allowed him to develop his skills by copying the works of Thomas Gainsborough and Meindert Hobbema.

Crome received further instruction and encouragement from the artist John Opie, and the English portraitist William Beechey, whose house in London he frequently visited.

[11] In 1803 Crome and Ladbrooke formed the Norwich Society of Artists, a group that also included Robert Dixon, Charles Hodgson, Daniel Coppin, James Stark and George Vincent.

[15] He also taught privately, his pupils including members of the influential Gurney family, whom he stayed with whilst in the Lake District in 1802.

An incident in Crome's life was the subject of the one-act opera Twice in a Blue Moon by Phyllis Tate, to a libretto by Christopher Hassall: it was first performed in 1969.

Along with the artist John Constable, Crome was one of the earliest English painters to represent identifiable species of trees, rather than generalised forms.

[9] His works, renowned for their originality and vision, were inspired by direct observation of the natural world combined with a comprehensive study of old masters.