Charles Chaplin was a painter and engraver, best known for his graceful portrayals of young girls. Chaplin was a printer's commercial engraver and an amateur artist whose prints had already received some recognition when they hung at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions. He had, however, had little formal education or art training.

Chaplin was born into a large working-class family and found an early love of drawing. He had experienced an as a child accident which left him with only one eye but that did not stop him. He apprenticed in a large printing works studio and enrolled as a Saturday student at the Royal College of Art.

His style developed significantly and Chaplin was much more successful than the son of Francois Boucher with whom he studied with in England.

He made his debut at the French Salon with portraits and landscape scenes. His early works were notable for their strong naturalism, although Chaplin completed a great many works in his early days including floral studies. He settled on the genre that was to establish him as a painter of portraiture.

He worked in brilliant colors and gained many prizes during his career. He was also awarded the Legion d’Honneur in 1879 becoming an Officer in 1881.

During in his lifetime, he was only to a small number of collectors, but today Chaplin's work is now being discovered by a wider public. A book about Chaplin and his work published in 2005 collects the prints, facts concerning the prints, and the background of his life.