Portrait of Mary Aubrey of Rathcoffey, Co. Kildare, three-quarter-length, in a blue dress and white embroidered wrap, her left arm resting on a stone plinth, in a landscape

Tilly Kettle, more well known for his Indian portraits, was one of a small group of non Irish painters who visited Ireland in the 18th century. The present picture was probably painted in 1764, the year of Mary Aubrey's marriage to Henry Brooke, the son of the Rev. Henry Brooke, Rector of Kinawley. Henry Brooke entered the East India Company as a writer in 1751 and was appointed a member of the Council of Madras in 1771. In 1774 he was made Chief of Masuliparan, but two years later was recalled and finally suspended in 1780. The couple returned to Ireland in 1786.