Hughes painting of the nativity is unusual in its depiction of Mary as an adolescent; she is traditionally portrayed as a fully-grown woman. Here, Hughes shows her undertaking one of her first duties as a mother, wrapping her child in swaddling bands, an act which prefigures his entombment. The tenderness and care with which she carries out her task further reminds us of her youth and, that as a first time mother, she has much to learn in order to look after the infant Christ. Despite her bewildering predicament she is aided by two angels and watched by three others from above. Their presence highlights the fact that she is not alone and that both mother and baby will be watched over by God.

Hughes has used a vivid palette of purple and pinks to paint the celestial figures. Their wings almost burst out of the picture frame creating a sense of dynamism within the composition, but also giving a sense of the cramped, intimate space in which the miracle of Christ's birth took place. Although Mary, as the central figure, dominates the painting Hughes draws are attention to the Christ child, the most important figure, by crowning him in a nimbus, a style of halo favoured in Renaissance paintings.

In 1858 Hughes sent 'The Nativity' and its companion piece 'The Annunciation' to the Royal Academy, however, only the former was hung. Ruskin noted in his review of the exhibition 'I happen to know that ['The Nativity'] was hastily finished' but this did not stop him from declaring it 'quite beautiful in thought, and indicative of greater colourist's power than anything in the rooms' ('Academy Notes, 1858' in John Ruskin, 'Complete Works,' 1904, vol. 14, pp. 162-163). Both paintings were later bought by the Newcastle industrialist James Leathart (1820-1895) who also owned Ford Madox Brown's 'Pretty Baa-Lambs' (1956P9) and Burne-Jones 'The Merciful Knight' (1973P84).