Rowland Hilder, The First Winter Snow on a Kentish Farm, 1970s, Watercolour

Rowland Hilder.
British ( b.1905 - d.1993 ).
The First Of Winter’s Snowfall On A Kentish Farm.
Watercolour On Paper.
Signed Lower Right.
Image size 14.8 inches x 21.3 inches ( 37.5cm x 54cm ).
Frame size 24.8 inches x 31.5 inches ( 63cm x 80cm ).

Rowland Hilder was a British artist renowned for his evocative landscapes that beautifully captured the essence of the British countryside.
He was born on 28 June 1905 at Great Neck, Long Island, USA to English parents, Roland and Kitty Hilder (née Fissenden). Rowland began his education at Morristown, New Jersey and was first introduced to art when his father took him to the mansions of the resident New York millionaires.
Following the outbreak of World War 1 the family returned to Kent, where his father enlisted in the British army. Rowland Hilder’s education continued at Aske’s, Hatcham, New Cross, South London. One of his teachers noticed his talent for drawing and encouraged him to apply for Goldsmiths’ College School of Art. He subsequently trained there Under E.J. Sullivan from 1922-25. It was here that he met botanical artist Edith Blenkiron. They later married and had two children.
His training at Goldsmiths honed his technical skills, particularly in watercolour, a medium in which he would later become widely recognized. Hilder’s early work was influenced by the traditional English landscape painters of the 18th and 19th centuries, yet he developed a distinctive style that set him apart from his predecessors.
Hilder was later to lecture at Goldsmiths’ College between the wars, as well as teaching at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, the Royal College of Art and Farnham School of Art.
Hilder’s career as a book illustrator began when he was commissioned by Oxford University Press as a book illustrator. His decorative end papers and drawings for Treasure Island won him The Times illustrators award. He illustrated several other books, including Moby Dick. In 1929 he was commissioner by Shell to illustrate Then and Now, a travel guide, which started a long relationship with the company with posters sponsored by them. In 1953 he and his wife were commissioned to create the Shell Guide to Flowers of the Countryside. Demand for this publication was so great that Shell set up an office to deal with correspondence and 13 million plates were published. This work, in which Rowland painted the landscapes and Edith painted the flowers, was serialised in the colour magazines Picture Post and Illustrated, reaching a readership of millions each week. Hilder also became a cover artist for the Radio Times.

The artist’s career took off in the 1930s when his watercolours started gaining attention for their unique blend of realism and romanticism. Hilder had a remarkable ability to portray the English countryside with both precision and a poetic sensibility. His depictions of rural scenes, often featuring the rolling hills, farms, and woodlands of Kent, conveyed a deep appreciation for the landscape’s natural beauty. Unlike many artists who favoured the bright and vibrant colours of the Impressionists, Hilder opted for a more subdued palette, which gave his work a timeless and contemplative quality.
During the Second World War Hilder was an army Camouflage Officer. His talents were put to use by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, for which he produced illustrations and paintings that captured various aspects of wartime Britain. These works were instrumental in boosting public morale and provided a visual record of the war’s impact on the British landscape. His wartime work further solidified his reputation as one of Britain’s leading landscape artists.
After the war, Hilder’s career continued to flourish. He set up the Heron Press to produce calendars and greetings cards and became a prolific illustrator. His work became very popular with a vast audience who loved his nostalgia for an unchanged landscape. By 1951 he was the most popular landscape artist of the time. In 1960 the publishers Royle took over the Heron Press and Hilder became its consultant art adviser. His career as a commercial illustrator virtually ended and he was able to devote his time to painting for painting’s sake.
Perhaps the most iconic aspect of Hilder’s work was his ability to capture the changing seasons. His winter landscapes, with their bare trees and frost-covered fields, are particularly celebrated. These paintings not only depicted the physical landscape but also conveyed the mood and atmosphere of the English countryside during different times of the year. His work in this vein earned him the title “the Turner of his generation,” a reference to the great English Romantic painter J.M.W. Turner.
In recognition of his contributions to British art, Hilder was elected a Royal Academician in 1960, one of the highest honours for an artist in the United Kingdom. His work was exhibited widely throughout his career, including at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute and the Fine Art Society. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute in 1938.
Hilder served as President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour between 1964 and 1974 and was awarded the OBE in 1986.
Rowland Hilder spent most of his life living with his family at Blackheath in London and his recreations included music and badminton. He was also a great sailor and kept a coastguard’s cottage at Shell Ness, at the mouth of the river Swale, as a base for his marine painting.

Hilder enjoyed a long and fruitful association with the countryside of the North Downs, from when he used to cycle into Kent as a student to his later years. He was the first to see the drama and picturesque beauty of the oast houses in Kent with their white caps and surrounding orchards. One of his most notable works is The Garden of England, which he worked on over several years and which was the most popular work at the exhibition Landscape in Britain 1850-1950, staged at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1983. He is also recognised for his paintings of the Thames with its sailing vessels and old buildings. Hilder has been called the ‘Turner of his generation” and according to the Dictionary of National Biography ‘The “Rowland Hilder country” (attached primarily to the weald of Kent) evokes a landscape as distinctive and personal as ‘Constable’s country” along the Suffolk Stour’. This is a remarkable tribute indeed.

Rowland Hilder died in Greenwich on 21 April 1993, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence landscape artists today. His work is now highly collectable and is represented in several public collections at home and abroad. His work Cable Ship, Greenwich was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia. Hilder’s work stands as a testament to the enduring beauty of the British countryside, rendered with a level of skill and sensitivity that has cemented his place in the annals of English art.


Rowland Hilder’s watercolour painting, The First of Winter’s Snowfall on a Kentish Farm, is a masterful depiction of the English countryside in winter. The scene portrays a serene farmhouse nestled in the Kentish landscape, blanketed by the season’s first snowfall. The farmhouse, with its red-brick structure and thatched roofs, stands as a warm contrast against the cool, muted tones of the surrounding fields and sky.

Hilder’s use of light and shadow highlights the stark beauty of the winter scene. The trees, bare and skeletal, rise against a dramatic sky filled with brooding clouds, hinting at more snow to come. The snow-covered ground and the tracks leading towards the farmhouse add a sense of depth and invite the viewer into this quiet, reflective moment.

Signed in the lower right section, this painting exemplifies Hilder’s ability to capture the mood and atmosphere of the English countryside, making it a timeless piece that resonates with the tranquil beauty of rural life.