Henry Vansittart (1732-1770), Govenor of Bengal
attributed to Tilly Kettle (1735 - Aleppo 1786)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1750 - circa 1760
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1219 x 991 mm (48 x 39 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lyme, Cheshire
NT 499979
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Henry Vansittart (1732-1770), Governor of Bengal, attributed to Tilly Kettle (Exeter 1735 – Aleppo 1786), circa 1750-60. A three-quarter-length portrait of a young man, standing, turned slightly to the right, leaning against a pedestal on the right and gazing at the spectator, in grey frizzed hair (wig?) wearing a beige coat with cuffs and pocket flaps and with matching waistcoat; white lace neckcloth and ruff to the shirtsleeves. There is a fluted column on the pedestal on which he leans, the upper part of which is concealed by a crimson drape. In his gloved left hand he holds a matching beige glove and in his right a black tricorne hat. Behind him to the left, a landscape of trees and a temple. Henry Vansittart was Governor of Bengal 1760-1764. Tilly Kettle, on the other hand, was only just starting up as a portrait painter for the Society of Artists in 1764/65, going first to Madras in 1768 and was not in Calcutta until 1771, after the sitter's death.
Provenance
Bequest of Lady Sarita Enriqueta Vansittart (d.1985)
Makers and roles
attributed to Tilly Kettle (1735 - Aleppo 1786), publisher