He studied under Couture, an early exponent of Realism who also taught the French painter Manet the American William Morris Hunt. Hone settled at Barbizon c.1857, remaining in the Forest for the best part of 13 years, before moving to Bourron-Marlotte, Brittany, Normandy, Paris, and Italy before returning to Ireland in 1872. In general, Hone remained a 'Barbizon' painter, with an interest in tone rather than pure color. In his Irish landscapes there is a predominance of greens and browns, and his shadows remain dark. He developed special sensitivity to the muted but rich tones of the Irish countryside, and changeable light on East and West coasts, shafts of sunlight on a field, cloudy skies at evening or the approach of rain.
Recession is expressed in alternating planes of light and shadow.
Hone captures a sense of airiness in the landscape or sultry afternoon sunshine, a transparent glow in the sky and a suggestion of a breeze stirring the leaves, which are pleasingly rendered. Banks of the River Seine, near Paris Hone referred with characteristic self-effacement to his watercolors as 'little watery blots'. But they have a freedom and simplicity that is sometimes lost in his more somber canvases, and may be regarded as an essential part of his French oeuvre. In this landscape, the forms of trees and boats are indicated by bold, watery strokes and a sense of airiness, and the summer temperature is captured with masterly freedom. Hone has successfully incorporated it into the overall composition.