Hill, Derek, 1916-2000

Arthur Derek Hill was born on December 6, 1916 in Southampton, Hampshire, England, the son of a wealthy sugar trader. He first worked as a theater designer in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the 1930s, and later as an historian. During World War II, he registered as a conscientious objector and worked on a farm. Hill's long association with Ireland began when he visited Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal to paint the portrait of the Irish-American art collector, Henry McIlhenny. He settled in Donegal in 1954.

Hill began to enjoy increased success as a portrait painter in the 1960s; his subjects included many notable composers, musicians, politicians, and statesmen. He was also an enthusiastic art collector and traveller. Many of his landscapes portray scenes from Tory Island, where he started an artists' community, teaching the local fishermen how to paint. Hill was made a CBE in 1997. A retrospective exhibition was arranged for and by him at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1998. In 1999, he was made an honorary Irish citizen by Irish President Mary McAleese. He died at a London hospital on July 30, 2000, and is buried in Hampshire in the South of England with his parents.