1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Hart, William

HART, WILLIAM (1823–1894), American landscape and cattle painter, was born in Paisley, Scotland, on the 31st of March 1823, and was taken to America in early youth. He was apprenticed to a carriage painter at Albany, New York, and his first efforts in art were in making landscape decorations for the panels of coaches. Subsequently he returned to Scotland, where he studied for three years. He opened a studio in New York in 1853, and was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1857 and an academician in the following year. He was also a member of the American Water Colour Society, and was its president from 1870 to 1873. As one of the group of the Hudson River School he enjoyed considerable popularity, his pictures being in many well-known American collections. He died at Mount Vernon, New York, on the 17th of June 1894.

His brother, James McDougal Hart (1828–1901), born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, was also a landscape and cattle painter. He was a pupil of Schirmer in Düsseldorf, and became an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1857 and a full member in 1859. He was survived by two daughters, both figure painters, Letitia B. Hart (b. 1867) and Mary Theresa Hart (b. 1872).