Robert Alexander Hillingford

Robert Alexander Hillingford (28 January 1828 – 1904) was an English painter. He specialized in historical pictures, often battle scenes.

The Duke of Marlborough Signing the Despatch at Blenheim

Biography

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He was born in London on 28 January 1828, and studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf for five years beginning in 1841. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. He then traveled to Munich, Rome, Florence and Naples, where he married and worked for several years, producing paintings of Italian life. One painting from this period entitled The Last Evening of the Carnival was exhibited at St. Petersburg in 1859. He returned to London in 1864,[1] and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1866; it was at this time that he began to work on historical subjects, especially of the Napoleonic Wars. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, British Institution and at other galleries. While he was attracted to costume pieces such as An incident in the early life of Louis XIV and During the wanderings of Charles Edward Stuart, he also painted some contemporary military scenes, including his 1901 RA painting South Africa, 1901 - The Dawn of Peace.

 
An incident from the story of Don Quixote written by Cervantes
 
Wellington at Waterloo
 
Lord Hill invites the last remnants of the French Imperial Guard to surrender

The original paintings often come up at auction, and with a large amount of the collection[clarification needed] dispersed in 1998, they are widely scattered.

Paintings

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Summoned to Waterloo — depicts revellers leaving the Duchess of Richmond's ball as soldiers march out of Brussels to war

Notes

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References

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  • Champlin, John Deniso; Perkins, Charles C., eds. (1913). "Hillingford, Robert Alexander". Cyclopedia of painters and paintings. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's sons. pp. 260, 261.
  • Baird, Rosemary (2007). Goodwood: Art and Architecture, Sport and Family. Frances lincoln. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-7112-2769-9.
  • Robert Hillingford at military-prints.com

Further reading

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  • Harrington, Peter. (1993). British Artists and War: The Face of Battle in Paintings and Prints, 1700-1914. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-157-6
  • Roe, F. Gordon, "The Hillingford Sage", Connoisseur, Vol. 190, No. 763, September 1975, pp. 50–55.