# Robert Hills artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-hills/
Profile generated: 2026-05-30T21:05:18.910Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1769-06-26
- Death date: 1844-05-14
- Nationality: English, British
- Movements: British landscape and animal painting tradition, late Georgian era
- Common media: oil painting, watercolour, etching, printmaking, drawing

## About Robert Hills

Robert Hills (1769–1844) was an English painter, etcher, watercolourist, and draftsman active in London during the late Georgian and Regency periods. Born in Islington and based in London for much of his career, Hills became known for his detailed depictions of rural landscapes, cattle, and pastoral scenes that reflect the broader British tradition of animal and countryside painting. He worked across a range of media, producing oil paintings, watercolours, etchings, and finished drawings. His staffage figures — small human or animal figures inserted into landscapes — were a recognised aspect of his practice. Hills's work is held in the Tate collection, and his identity is well-documented in major library authority files including the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History.

## Common works and media

Hills is most frequently encountered in appraisal contexts as etchings and engravings of rural and animal subjects, watercolour landscapes featuring cattle and trees, and finished drawings of pastoral scenes. Oil paintings are less common at auction. His subjects include cattle resting, beech trees, village greens, and views of the English countryside around Kent and Surrey. Collectors may also find print series and book illustrations attributed to him.

## Market and appraisal context

Robert Hills's work appears at auction primarily as 19th-century British drawings, watercolours, and etchings. His etchings and works on paper are encountered more frequently than oil paintings. Collectors should consider medium (etching versus watercolour versus oil), subject (cattle and pastoral scenes are characteristic), condition of the paper support, provenance, and the quality of execution when assessing value. Works with documented exhibition history or institutional provenance may command stronger results. Comparable public auction records should be consulted for current market positioning.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from museum records and library authority files with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Robert Hills, identity data is grounded in the Tate collection, Getty ULAN, RKD, VIAF, and Wikidata, with 195 auction records in the Appraisily database.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16239927
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hills_(artist)
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500002820
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/76587917/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb2007028640
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-hills-260
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/38485