Lucas was born in 1805 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, into an old Quaker family and worked throughout his life as a businessman and amateur painter. His subjects were principally landscapes, as well as birds, animals and flowers, painted in both oil and watercolour. His works ranged from highly detailed representation to a more impressionistic handling, almost certainly inspired by Turner. He rarely exhibited publicly, though a posthumous exhibition of his watercolours was held at Walker's Galleries, New Bond Street, in 1929.