Having learnt glass-painting in Birmingham under Francis Eginton,[1] he visited London in 1790 with an introduction to Benjamin West, who found him employment on the painted-glass windows of St George's Chapel at Windsor.

In 1791 he became a student at the Royal Academy, where, in 1792 he exhibited a view of Windsor Castle, followed in the next two years by the Death of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, at the Battle of Castillon, Ruth and Naomi, Elijah restoring the Widow's Son, Cupid disarmed by Euphrosyne, and other pictures.

However, the field was very crowded with the likes of John Hoppner, William Owen, Thomas Lawrence and Martin Archer Shee competing for business; consequently, from 1796 to 1800, his exhibited works were chiefly portraits of gentlemen and ladies, often nameless in the catalogue and of no great importance, historically speaking.

In 1825 he was elected professor of painting at the Royal Academy, succeeding Henry Fuseli, and, in order to qualify himself for his duties, visited Italy and Rome in company with William Hilton, R. A., and also Sir David Wilkie, whom they met in Florence.

[1] Phillips wrote many occasional essays on the fine arts, especially for Rees's "Cyclopaedia", and also a memoir of William Hogarth for John Nichols's edition of that artist's "Works", 1808–17.