Hughes, Edward Robert (1851-1914) - Night with her Train of Stars 1912

Night with her Train of Stars is inspired by William Ernest Henley’s poem, ‘Margaritae Sorori‘ (To my Sister Margaret).

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Edward Robert Hughes RWS (1851-1914) was a British painter, who primarily worked in watercolours, but also produced a number of oil paintings. He was influenced by his uncle and artist, Arthur Hughes who was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and worked closely with one of the Brotherhood's founders, William Holman Hunt.

E.R. Hughes (known to his family as "Ted") was born in Clerkenwell, London, in 1851 to Edward Hughes Snr. and Harriet Foord. He had one brother, William Arthur Hughes, who was two years younger than him and became a frame maker (gilder) and, by 1891, a photographer. During the 1860s he lived for a time with his uncle Arthur Hughes and his family, which included his son Arthur Foord Hughes, also an artist.

Having settled on his career choice, Edward Robert Hughes attended Heatherleys in London to prepare himself for the chance of entering the Royal Academy Schools. Hughes became a student at the Royal Academy School in 1868. While Pre-Raphaelitism played an influential part in shaping Hughes work, Aestheticism is also seen in his paintings.

E. R. Hughes is best known for his fantastical watercolours such as Midsummer Eve and Night with her Train of Stars, yet initially he built a career as a portrait painter to the upper classes. 

In addition to being an artist himself, E.R. Hughes was also a studio assistant to the elder artist and Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood founding member William Holman Hunt. In later life Hunt suffered from glaucoma, and Hughes made a substantial contribution to a number of Hunt's paintings. Two of the paintings that Hughes worked on with Hunt were The Light of the World, which is displayed in St Paul's Cathedral, and The Lady of Shalott, which is exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

In 1874 Hughes became engaged to Mary MacDonald, the daughter of the writer George MacDonald. Unfortunately, Mary died four years later. In 1883 Hughes married Emily Eliza Davies. In 1913 they moved to St Albans, Hertfordshire, where he was later stricken with appendicitis. He died after surgery on 23 April 1914 in his home.