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Lot Essay
Judging by the uniform, the sitter may have been a staff officer in the East India Company. The single-breasted coat and double-breasted waistcoat are features of the period 1768-77.
Kettle was one of the first British artists to seek patronage in India, where he travelled in 1768, possibly on the suggestion of Admiral Sir Samuel Cornish. He quickly established good relations with the indigenous nobility, spending time at the court of Nawab of Avadh, Shuja' al-Daula, at Faizabad in 1772, and in Calcutta, before returning to London in 1776.
We are grateful to Colonel Peter Walton for his thoughts on the uniform in this portrait.
Kettle was one of the first British artists to seek patronage in India, where he travelled in 1768, possibly on the suggestion of Admiral Sir Samuel Cornish. He quickly established good relations with the indigenous nobility, spending time at the court of Nawab of Avadh, Shuja' al-Daula, at Faizabad in 1772, and in Calcutta, before returning to London in 1776.
We are grateful to Colonel Peter Walton for his thoughts on the uniform in this portrait.