1000 Museums

John William Hill was born in 1812 into a family of artists. He learned how to make landscape art at a young age, and he was his apprentice when they moved to New York City in 1822. In 1833, he worked as a topographic artist for the New York State Geological Survey. That same year he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design, New York City. The Smith Brothers of New York City later employed Hill to create watercolor landscape paintings of towns throughout the United States. He exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design and the Brooklyn Art Association. He was successful in multiple artistic mediums, but his most famous pieces were his Pre-Raphaelite-inspired watercolor paintings. He died in 1879, but his son John Henry Hill continued his legacy as an artist.