Attributed to Tilly Kettle, 1734 - 1786 Portrait of a Gentleman Holding a Partially Opened Book

Attributed to Tilly Kettle, 1734 - 1786

Portrait of a Gentleman holding a partially opened book

oil on canvas

30 x 25in. (76 x 64cm.)

In a Carved Gilt 18th Century Frame

Artist Biography

Tilly Kettle, (1735–1786), portrait painter, was born on 31 January 1735, at 4 Silver Street, London, the third of six children of Henry Kettle (c.1704–c.1773), a coach-painter, and his wife, Ann. Since 1640 five successive generations of the Kettle family had been freemen of the Brewers' Company, although both Tilly Kettle's father and grandfather worked as painters. Kettle may have received some elementary training from his father, who exhibited a ‘cilindrical picture; one side a conversation, the other a sleeping Venus’ at the Society of Artists in 1772. The only surviving work by Henry Kettle is an unusual panel painting, ‘An Anamorphic Vanitas’, signed in mirror writing, and which was sold in America in 1997 (ex Christies, New York, 23 May 1997, lot 34).

Tilly Kettle attended William Shipley's drawing school in the Strand, London, where he was a fellow pupil of the architect James Gandon. From there he may have progressed to the St Martin's Lane Academy and the duke of Richmond's sculpture gallery, although this has not been firmly established. During the early 1750s he was introduced to Joshua Reynolds, whose portrait of his pupil Giuseppe Marchi (RA) Kettle copied with minor alterations to the draperies. According to Gandon, when Kettle returned the original he was complimented on the quality of his copy by Reynolds, ‘who, however, excused himself from lending any more pictures’ (Gandon and Mulvany, 204).

Kettle's earliest identified portrait, a self-portrait of 1760 (priv. coll.), displays the formative influence of Reynolds on his portrait style. His first exhibited work was an unidentified half-length female portrait, which he showed at the Free Society of Artists in 1761. By 1762 Kettle was busy repairing Robert Streater's allegorical ceiling painting at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, during which time he also painted the portrait of Dr Francis Yarborough, principal of Brasenose College, which is signed and dated 1763. Both commissions were probably secured by his friend and patron Sir Richard Kaye, bt, dean of Lincoln, who introduced him to new clientele over the next few years. From the end of 1762 until about 1764 Kettle worked between Oxford and the midlands. During this time he painted the poet Anna Seward (NPG) and her elder sister, Sarah, as well as numerous portraits of the family of William Legge, second earl of Dartmouth and Sir John Holte, both of whom were related to Kaye. Through these connections he also painted a series of portraits of the Edwards family, including Gerard Ann Edwards, son of the celebrated heiress Mary Edwards.

In 1764 Kettle was invited to take up the livery of the Brewers' Company, although he seems not to have responded. The following year he exhibited three works at the Society of Artists, including a full-length portrait of the actress Mrs Yates as the Chinese Princess Mandane in Arthur Murphy's adaptation of Voltaire's novel The Orphan of China (Tate Collection). In the exhibition catalogue he registered his address as Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, although by 1767 he was living in Conduit Street. He continued to exhibit portraits at the Society of Artists until 1776, after which he switched his allegiance to the Royal Academy. In 1767 Kettle exhibited a portrait of Miss Eliot as Juno, in the manner of Reynolds, and the following year showed an ambitious group portrait entitled An Admiral in his Cabin Issuing his Orders, a portrait of Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Cornish with Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Kempenfelt and Cornish's secretary, Thomas Parry.

In August 1768 Kettle, possibly encouraged by Cornish, petitioned the East India Company to travel