Phillip's own career was to follow that of fellow-Scot Wilkie very closely, beginning with carefully detailed paintings depicting the lives of Scottish crofters.

He moved on to much more broadly painted scenes of Spanish life influenced by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Diego Velázquez.

The first of these, The Letter Writer, Seville, displayed the influence of Pre-Raphaelitism, a movement he had previously opposed, along with most other members of The Clique, despite his friendship with Millais, one of its leaders.

Phillip's two most important paintings in these years were The Early Career of Murillo (1864) and La Gloria (1865, National Gallery of Scotland).

Phillip's self-portrait, The Evil Eye, commissioned by his close friend Patrick Allan-Fraser, is in Hospitalfield House in Arbroath, along with portraits of other members of The Clique.