London-born Thomas Sewell Robins showed an early talent for art, and was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1829, where studied painting. In the same year, he exhibited the first of seven works at the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Robins specialty was coastal marine subjects, including yachting scenes off the Isle of Wight. Based in London for most of his life, Robins traveled extensively throughout Europe, visiting France in 1842, Holland in 1845, and, later, Italy and Belgium. In 1874, he briefly moved to Brighton, but returned to the capital two years later. He died in Kensington in 1880.In 1839, he was elected an Associate of the New Watercolor Society, exhibiting 317 pictures there before resigning in 1866. He also exhibited 39 oils and watercolors at the British Institution between 1832 and 1863.His work is included in the collections of several British museums: the Victoria and Albert Museum, Birmingham Art Gallery, City of Portsmouth Museum, and the National Maritime Museum; and several in the United States: The Metropolitan Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design, The MIT Museum, and the Yale Center for British Art.