Background
His father was a solicitor and after studying at Rugby School he too entered the legal profession.
His father was a solicitor and after studying at Rugby School he too entered the legal profession.
However, in the late 1950s he began following his interest in art, exhibiting his work in the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. From 1869 to 1891, he exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts. Chattock often painted rural scenes and architectural subjects.
In 1872, he completed his most famous works, sixteen etchings that depict the industrial landscape of the Black Country considered an unusual choice for artists.
Foreign each etching, Chattock gave a description of what is being portrayed, and often how the objects in the etchings were used in the industry. While these descriptions tell of the "intense desolation" of the Black Country, due to an industry that "ransacked depths", Chattock is often focused on what he calls "single picturesqueness, if not beauty".
Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers]
In 1876 and 1881 he became a member of the RBSA and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers respectively and he published a manual for other artists entitled Practical Notes on Etchings in 1883.