An accomplished landscape, still-life, and portrait painter, William Henry Hilliard was born in Auburn, New York in 1836.  By the 1860's, Hilliard was well known among Indian artists, residing in Madison.  He left for New York in 1876, subsequently moving to Boston and finally settling in  Washington, DC.

He studied in New York City and also abroad during the 1880's under Lambinet in Paris and in England.  For a while he kept a studio in New York City, but by 1878 settled in Boston where he became known for his New England landscapes.  He exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1876 to 1888, the Brooklyn Art Association, the Boston Art Club, and abroad at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of London.  His last known address was Baltimore, MD.  

Among his best known paintings were The Flight above the Clouds, which sold for ten thousand dollars, a portrait of President Garfield, and the tomb of John Howard Payne (author of Home, Sweet Home).