Vanderbank trained in Kneller's academy in Great Queen Street and was one of the co-founders of the St Martin's Lane academy in 1720, later attended by Hogarth, Highmore and Seymour. Inspired by the work of Rubens and van Dyck, Vanderbank became an accomplished portrait artist. Among his most successful portraits is a full-length of Queen Caroline, painted in 1736 (Goodwood House, Chichester, Sussex).