Lot description
Tilly Kettle, British 1735-1786- Portrait of a lady, seated half-length, wearing a white bonnet and black lace shawl, holding an open book of liturgy; oil on canvas, 76 x 63 cm. Provenance: with Artware Fine Art, London; where purchased by the present owner (A Distinguished British Private Collection). Note: Kettle was a prominent and prolific portraitist who is regarded as being the first British artist to operate in Colonial India, having travelled there in 1768 after working as a painter in London, where he had studied under William Shipley (1715-1803). The present work is a characteristic example of the artist's sensitively-painted portraits, with a simplicity of composition which directs the viewer's attention straight towards the sitter's direct gaze. This approach is also evident, for example, in Kettle's portraits which sold at Bonhams, London, on 25 April 2018, lot 61 (£13,750), and at Christie's, New York, on 6 April 2006, lot 320 ($26,400). Strikingly similar compositions also include his portrait of Anna Seward in the National Portrait Gallery [2017], and his portrait of a lady in the Dulwich Picture Gallery [DPG583] which depicts its sitter wearing a seemingly identical spotted black lace shawl. We are grateful to Brian Allen for confirming the attribution of the present lot. The painting was previously also authenticated by Robin Gibson of the National Portrait Gallery.