Laporte was born into a family of French Huguenot origins, possibly in London or in Ireland, and studied art under the Irish-born Huguenot painter John Melchior Barralet, either in London or Dublin [REF].
He published: Characters of Trees (1798-1801), Progressive Lessons sketched from Nature (1804), The Progress of a Water-colour Drawing, and, in conjunction with W.F. Wells, executed a set of 72 etchings, entitled A Collection of Prints illustrative of English Scenery, from the Drawings and Sketches of Thomas Gainsborough (1819).