Percy Lindsay, the eldest of ten children born to Robert Charles Alexander and Jane Elizabeth Lindsay, was encouraged to draw by his grandfather, Reverend Thomas Wilkins. He attended weekly painting classes in Ballarat under English artist Frederick Sheldon. In 1895, he moved to Melbourne after his brother Lionel, and attended the National Gallery briefly before returning to Creswick. He went back to Melbourne in 1897 to work as a black and white illustrator. He was a member of the Victorian Artists' Society and between 1904 and 1908 he was elected to its Council. During the 1890s he was prominent in Melbourne's intellectual bohemian circles that included his brothers Norman and Lionel Lindsay (qq.v.).
In 1906 Lindsay married Jessie Hammon, lived in Glenferrie, and painted around the Heidelberg district. He moved to Sydney in 1918, living in Roseville, then Milson's Point, painting the Harbour and industrial scenes. During the 1920s and 1930s he experimented with printmaking under Norman Lindsay's guidance at Springwood. He was renowned for his ebullient personality.
