Diana Dietz Hill

BiographyThe British artist Diana Dietz Hill (c. 1760–1844) exhibited as Diana Dietz at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1777 to 1780 and she won an award at the Society of Artists in London in 1775. She apparently studied with Jeremiah Meyer, R.A. (1735–1789), the miniature painter to the Queen and the painter in enamel and miniature to the King. Prior to her marriage, the artist’s miniatures were either unsigned or signed DD; after marrying Haydock Hill in 1781, she signed her miniatures either Hill (like the Mount Vernon miniature), DH or Mrs. D. Hill. She was widowed in 1785, and was granted permission that same year to travel to India as a portrait painter. Hill was talented, and known for her delicate and accomplished brushwork. She was in high demand as a portraitist from the time of her arrival in Calcutta in 1786. Her embittered rival, painter Ozias Humphry, R.A. (1742–1810) recorded that through her brother-in-law she was “powerfully recommended to the leading people.” Humphry is frequently quoted as saying about her success that he would “…rather all the male painters in England landed in Bengal than this single woman.” Though she likely ceased painting professionally after her second marriage in 1788, she remained in India until 1806.

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