Frederick Arthur Verner was born on February 26, 1836, at Hammondsville (later Sheridan), Upper Canada, now part of Mississauga, Ontario. As a boy, he was fascinated by the paintings of Paul Kane and attempted unsuccessfully to become his pupil. In 1856, Verner traveled to London where he studied at Heatherley School of Fine Art and the British Museum until 1858. He then enlisted in the 3rd West Yorkshire Regiment, achieving the rank of lieutenant. In 1860, he joined the British Legion under Garibaldi to fight in the Italian unification campaign, and rejoined the 3rd West Yorkshire Regiment in 1861.

Verner returned to Toronto in 1862, where he established a photography business and created oil portraits from photographs, including portraits of Indigenous subjects that marked the beginning of his painting career. In 1873, he accompanied Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba Alexander Morris to the signing of Treaty Three, the Northwest Angle Treaty, at Lake of the Woods. The sketches and watercolours he made during this trip, now held in the National Gallery of Canada, became source material for paintings throughout the rest of his life. He also studied buffalo extensively beginning in 1875, using these sketches as the basis for paintings, though he may never have seen buffalo in the wild.

Verner became a founding member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1872 and exhibited with the group almost every year until shortly before his death. In 1880, he moved permanently to London, England, though he continued to visit Canada periodically. He exhibited widely in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, St. Louis, and London. In 1893, he was made an Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy and exhibited with the Academy from its founding in 1880 until near the end of his life. In 1901, he won a gold medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, and in 1905 he was elected the first Canadian member of the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, receiving the diploma in 1910. He also exhibited with the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 1881 to 1900.

Verner's paintings of the Canadian West, particularly his depictions of First Nations people and buffalo, were highly regarded during his lifetime. Toronto's The Globe stated in 1906 that his buffalo paintings represented "a class of subject where he stands almost alone and unrivalled." His work conveyed tranquil, solitary scenes and his ability to capture specific times of day and the light and breadth of the Canadian prairies. His paintings are held in numerous public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Glenbow Museum, and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Verner married Mary Chilcott in England in 1882 and died in London on May 16, 1928.