William Hart (March 31, 1823 – June 17, 1894), was a Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter, and Hudson River School artist.

[2] His mature landscape style embraced the mannerism of the late Hudson River School by emphasizing light and atmosphere.

Cattle were a popular motif in Hudson River School art, and nearly every artist included them in at least some of their landscapes as diminutive symbols of man's harmonious relationship with nature.

Some artists, including William and James Hart along with Thomas Bigelow Craig, made a specialty of cow portraits.

These paintings, which were very popular with late-19th-century American collectors, typically featured several cattle grazing or watering in the foreground or middle distance with the landscape playing a supporting role as a bucolic backdrop.

Sheldon wrote in 1879 that Hart's later landscapes "may be found in almost all the auction-rooms where pictures are sold, and in almost all the principal private collections in the Atlantic cities.

William Hart's iconic etching, "Naponock (Naponoch) Scenery, Ulster County, New York", was first exhibited at this exposition and is listed in the catalogue under number 362.