Born and raised in Port Adelaide, South Australia, Menpes migrated with his family to London, England in his early 20s, where he went on to study at the School of Art and exhibit at the Royal Academy.

Under his influence, Menpes began incorporating motifs and techniques of Japanese art into his work, and in 1887, he travelled to Japan to witness its culture first-hand.

It proved to be a critical and commercial success, encouraging Menpes to travel further abroad for artistic inspiration, and over the next two decades he went to India, China, Kashmir, and Myanmar, among other countries.

A "born raconteur", Menpes was a fixture of British high society, and he became renowned for hosting soirées at his Japanese-style home on Cadogan Gardens, attended by a wide circle of artists, writers, socialites and other prominent figures.

As early as 1880, a selection of ten of his drypoint portraits, donated to the British Museum by Charles A. Howell, brought him critical acclaim.

[5] [6] In 1886 he agreed to stand as the godfather to his friend Oscar Wilde's son Vyvyan, after John Ruskin had declined due to his age.

Menpes moved into a property at 25 Cadogan Gardens, Sloane Square, designed for him by A. H. Mackmurdo in 1888 and decorated it in the Japanese style.

[13] After the end of the war in 1902 he travelled widely, visiting Burma, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kashmir, Mexico, Morocco, and Spain.

An exhibition of his work, The World of Mortimer Menpes: Painter, Etcher, Raconteur opened at the Art Gallery of South Australia on 14 June 2014.

On 26 April 1875 at All Soul's Church, Langham Place, London, Menpes married fellow Australian Rosa Mary Grosse (1857 – 23 August 1936).

[20] Menpes painted in oil and watercolour as well as being a prolific printmaker, producing over 700 etchings and drypoints during his career to great acclaim.

In 1911, Menpes donated 38 of his copies in oil to the Australian Government; these works have subsequently become part of the Pictures Collection at the National Library of Australia.