Paul Maitland was born with spinal complications that he suffered with throughout his life. It was due to this handicap that he exhibited little and his subject matter consisted almost entirely of London views, in particular parks and gardens. He studied at the Royal College of Art and then under the tuition of Theodore Roussel (1847-1926). Roussel was a French artist who lived in Chelsea and was a friend of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). It was through Roussel that Maitland became associated with Whistler and his circle.

Whistler’s influence is evident in many of Maitland’s paintings and by 1888 he was a member of the New English Art Club and began exhibiting with other English Impressionists such as Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) and Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942). His paintings were shown in London at Suffolk Street (Royal Society of British Artists), Paterson, Grafton and Goupil Galleries; also at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; City Art Gallery, Manchester and the Institute of Fine Art in Glasgow. He exhibited internationally in Paris, Munich and Dresden.

Maitland taught drawing in South Kensington and in 1893 became an art examiner for the Board of Education, a post he held until 1908, just a year before his death.