(b Düsseldorf, 14 April 1818; d Düsseldorf, 3 Dec 1890). German painter. From 1833 to 1844 he attended the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf as a master pupil of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. Apart from a four-year residency in Berlin, he lived almost continuously in Düsseldorf, though he made several study trips to other parts of Germany and to Belgium, the Netherlands and France. He was one of the best-known painters of the Düsseldorf school, as is indicated by the full-length portrait (1850; Düsseldorf, Stadtmus.) of him by Johann Peter Hasenclever. He was praised by his contemporaries for his free brushwork and his sure mastery of technique, which may be compared to the work of his fellow Düsseldorf painter Caspar Scheuren (1810–87). As subject-matter Hilgers favoured atmospheric, mist-shrouded winter landscapes based in part on localities in and around Düsseldorf (e.g. the Wasserburg in Winter, 1845, and the Conradsheim in Winter, 1890; both Düsseldorf, Gal. Paffrath), the romantic character of which is heightened by the incidental figures. After his death, the popularity of his paintings rapidly declined, and he was quickly forgotten.