Arthur Hughes showed early artistic promise and, in 1847, enrolled in the Royal Academy School. He was very encouraged by John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He was very inspired by The Germ, the short-lived Pre-Raphaelite magazine but he suffered at the hands of the Royal Academy, having a number of rejections and badly hung pictures.

Hughes was a modest man and motivated by the desire for a stable, happy family life and when he married Tryphena Foord in 1855, he compromised his artistic ambitions for this. He suffered at the hands of the Royal Academy, having a number of rejections and badly hung pictures.

Most of Hughes' paintings were of scenes of ordinary life. They were painted with great delicacy, and feeling showing the warm character of the man who painted them. He remained under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and some of his paintings follow themes produced by members of the Brotherhood.

As well as being a painter, Hughes became a successful Pre-Raphaelite illustrator, drawing many pictures for the illustrated magazines and books of the 1860's including nursery and fairy tale books.

Arthur Hughes died in 1915, followed by his wife in 1921. After their deathes, their daughter was forced to relocate to a smaller home. Because of the lack of space she had Hughes preparatory sketches, all his private papers and correspondence destroyed, leaving little of his life behind.