Hughes would only have been seventeen years of age when he painted this unfinished portrait of himself as a young poet. He was converted to Pre-Raphaelitism at about this time and it shows him wearing the pseudo-medieval costume which appears in the early paintings of Millais and Hunt.

Although Hughes never displayed much gift for poetic writing, he was however very enthusiastic about 'The Germ', the Pre-Raphaelite journal which was circulated in the Royal Academy schools. This had impelled him to associate himself with the Pre-Raphaelite painters although he does not appear to have met them before 1852.