Arthur Hughes, painter, the son of a London hotel-owner. He was born in Mayfair and was educated at Archbishop Tenison's Grammar School. At the early age of fourteen he entered the Government School of Design at Somerset House on the Strand, where his tutor was Alfred Stevens - one of my favourite artists - entering the Royal Academy Schools just one year later. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, aged seventeen. Aged nineteen he became involved with the Pre-Raphaelites, adopting some of their style. In 1852, he met John Everett Millais at the R.A. when both were exhibiting paintings called Ophelia. Millais' version was painted in this area, in Kingston Upon Thames, where he used the Hogsmill River as the model for the water. In 1855, Hughes married Tryphena Foord, four years his senior. He appears to have got on well with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who described him as being free of 'envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness', sharing rooms, a studio, and collaborating on works. His own works were not always well accepted and he suffered the usual finacial problems, which saw him living at several addresses, with an ever-increasing family. I am interested to note that his works were accepted by the Grosvenor Gallery, over an extended period, because I have written about the founder elsewhere. A boy was born in 1856 and a girl in 1857, the Hughes family moving to Maidstone in 1858, where another daughter was born. Then came Staines, 1860, where mixed twins were born, and Wandsworth, 1863, where a last boy was born. Hughes gained a few patrons but they bought little work. However, he kept busy with illustration work. The family moved to Putney and West Brompton, in London, then to Wandle Bank in Wallington. Their final move was to East Side House opposite Kew Green. I think you will find that my photo shows this to be more than a hovel. Camille Pissarro stayed almost next-door for a few months. Hughes would have known Lucien Pissarro as both men were friends of William Morris, and both were popular illustrators.

Arthur Hughes was one of those who's daughters were photographed by the Reverend Stephen Dodgson, who called himself Lewis Carroll. The girls were six, four and two, and were photographed with their mother. Tryphena Foord was born in Maidstone and her marriage took place there. She is buried with her husband.

Richmond Council exhibited the work of Arthur Hughes in 1999, and I was among those who missed it.

A picture by Arthur Hughes has recently come in to the possession of Richmond Borough and has been on display at the Octagon Gallery (Spring 2010).∼Painter Pre-Raphaelite and book illustrator.
Born in London.In 1847 he enrolled in the Antique Schools at the Royal Academy, winning a silver medal in 1849.In 1857 he joined with Rossetti, Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and others in painting murals on the walls of the Oxford Union Debating Hall.Produced approximately 700 known paintings and drawings and 750 book illustrations during his lifetime. Hughes illustrated Keats's poem "The Eve of St. Agnes".Many paintings were auctioned in Christie´s in 1921.