John William Hill was the son of the British aquatint engraver John Hill and the father of John Henry Hill. He was born in London and immigrated with his family to the United States at the age of seven. He initially resided in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City in 1822, where he served a seven-year apprenticeship to his father. In 1828 Hill began to exhibit work at the National Academy of Design. He was employed as a topographical artist for the New York State Geological Survey from 1836 to 1841, after which he worked for Smith Brothers, a publishing firm, for whom he made watercolor views of many American cities. Around 1855, Hill read Ruskin's Modern Painters and was greatly influenced by the tenets of the Pre-Raphaelite movement of which he came to be considered the leading spirit in America.

A versatile artist, Hill worked in lithography, aquatint, and watercolor. He made detailed pictures directly from nature, many in watercolor and executed in a stipple technique with tiny brushes normally employed for miniatures. This work, On the Hackensack, 1877 with its strong attention to tonal values and contrasts of light and dark, demonstrates the influence of his earlier experience in the employ of printmakers.