John Browne was apprenticed from 1755 to John Tinney, an engraver in Fleet Street London, who was also William Woollett's master. Browne was elected a member of the Society of Artists of Great Britain in 1764 and a joint work with Woollett, E18 Celadon and Amelia, after Richard Wilson, was shown at the society's exhibition in 1766 and again at its special exhibition in 1768. Browne was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1770 - one of the first engravers to be so honoured - and he exhibited 13 prints there between 1771 and 1801.