Fillian was a pupil of William Faithorne the Elder, and worked in his style, though he never attained his excellence.
Fellian, disciple of Mr. Faithorne, who is a hopeful young man.’ He died early, about 1680, before these hopes could be realised.
Very few of his engravings exist, notably a portrait of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, published by P. Stent in 1658, a good work; a portrait of his master, Faithorne, from a drawing by himself; a copy of J. Payne's portrait of Paracelsus; ‘Dr.
Michael,’ after Guido Reni; and the frontispiece to P. Heylyn's ‘Cosmography,’ published in 1669.
Walpole was of opinion that Faithorne's engraving of ‘Christ with a Globe,’ from a picture attributed to Raphael, was completed by Fillian.