Hunt was apprenticed to John Varley at the age of seven and spent much of his early career sketching in the London suburbs. On account of a deformity in his legs he preferred to sit whilst sketching and became adapt at depicting mossy banks and still-lifes. He was elected as a member of the Royal Water-Colour Society in 1826 and developed a technique of hatching and stippling in bodycolour over a white ground. Ruskin was a great admirer of his work.