Born into a Scottish family established in Richmond near London, Keeley Halswelle RI ARSA (1832–1891) spent his early years sketching along the banks of the Thames. After a position at an architect's office, he spent time working under an engraver and studying at the British Museum. From 1860 he began a career working in book illustration, first working for the London Illustrated News. He was sent to illustrate a series of sketches of Scotland, and, whilst in Edinburgh, having received a number of other commissions from leading publishers, decided to stay and work in Scotland. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy, where he became an associate member in 1866. From 1869, he lived in Italy, painting Italian peasant subjects and Venetian scenes, for which he became famous. In 1880s, he abandoned figure painting and returned to painting highland landscapes and views of the Thames. Halswelle owned a houseboat called the Kelpie, and he became a pioneer of houseboating on the Thames. In 1883 he published a book of wood engravings entitled 'A Series of Eighty Pictures. The Result of Six Years in a Houseboat'.

Halswelle's works are in numerous public collections across the UK, including amongst others Tate, Glasgow Museums, Walker Art Gallery, the Whitworth and Leeds Art Gallery.