Tilly Kettle was the son of a man who was already in his fifth generation as a carriage painter and mainly painted the carriages of a beer and ale brewery. The young Mr. Kettle inherited his talent, but he wanted more and therefore studied painting with William Shipley in his Royal Society of Arts, founded in 1754. He had the wish to become a professional portrait painter and showed himself to be very talented already at the age of 25. His first known work is a self-portrait from 1760. He also painted many members of famous London families, including the wife and children of 2nd Lord Dartmouth. At the same time he also worked on the restoration of a large ceiling painting by Robert Straeter, the court painter of King Charles II in the famous Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.
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In 1768 Tilly Kettle was drawn to the Indian colonies. He embarked and went first to Madras (today Chennai. Later he went to Calcutta. He was also very successful as a portrait painter in India and his other paintings were also very popular, as he was the first British painter to work in the Indian Crown Colony. Tilly Kettle painted many members of the British upper class and the army who served in India, but also Indian dignitaries and their families and also the simple Indian people. The paintings "An Indian Dancing Girl with a Hookah" from 1772 and the portrait
"Shuja-ud-Dawlah, Nawab of Oudh" from 1775.
The years in India were Kettle's best and most successful time and he loved living there. He even had an Indian mistress with whom he had two daughters Ann and Elisabeth. Nevertheless, after eight years he returned to London and in the same year he married Polly Plaine, the daughter of a well-known London architect. He also had two children with her, the daughter Mary and the son James. It was rumoured at the time that it was not a love marriage but an arranged marriage, which Kettle entered into because he had financial problems. But in the long run these problems were not solved because he did not get as many portrait commissions in England as in India. At times, the artist even had to hide from his creditors in Ireland. In 1786, Tilly Kettle decided to travel to India again, and because he did not have enough money for a ship passage, he took the overland route via Turkey. On this journey, however, he died under unknown circumstances near Basrah.
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-955463).jpg "Unidentified Officer of a Royal Regiment of Foot, c.1760 by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of Anne Howard-Vyse by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "An Indian Dancing Girl with a Hookah, 1772 by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of Captain Robert Stewart of St. Fort, Fife by Tilly Kettle")
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_c1762_(oil_on_canvas)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1635479).jpg "Portrait of Robert Sewell, c.1762 by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Dancing Girl by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Shuja-ud-daula, Nawab of Oudh by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Mrs Drewry Ottley, 1768 by Tilly Kettle")
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_(oil_on_board)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1098002).jpg "Portrait of a Boy, said to be William Pitt, The Younger (1759-1806) by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Gentleman, Probably Mr. Lyte, in Black Van Dyke Costume by Tilly Kettle")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-896657).jpg "An Unknown Man (c.1764-69) by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of John Graham, as a Boy, full-length, in Indian Dress holding a Garland of Flowers Around the Neck of a Greyhound at his Side, in a Landscape by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Mrs. Drewry Ottley, 1768 by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of Two Children in Eastern Costumes by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "An Unknown Man by Tilly Kettle")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1510407).jpg "Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "A Woman of the Court at Faizabad, India by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Daniel de Castro by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "William, Later Dr. Vyse by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of an Officer of the 15th Regiment of Dragoons, c.1768 by Tilly Kettle")
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 Rear-Admiral of the Blue engraved by Richard Earlom (1743-1822) pub by John Boydell (1719-1804) 1782 - (MeisterDrucke-216092).jpg "Portrait of Richard Kempenfelt, Rear-Admiral of the Blue, engraved by Richard Earlom, pub. by John Boydell by Tilly Kettle")
 Rear-Admiral of the Blue engraved by Richard Earlom (1743-1822) pub by John Boydell (1719-1804) 1782 - (MeisterDrucke-216092).jpg)
.jpg "William, later Dr Vyse by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Eleanora Frances Murray by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Sarah Judith de Castro by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Man in an Indian Landscape by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "William, later Dr. Vyse by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of Anne Howard-Vyse by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Man by Tilly Kettle")
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_c1805-15_(oil_on_can_-_(MeisterDrucke-1376913).jpg "Portrait of Miss Charlotte Bridgeman as a child by Tilly Kettle")
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_Nawab_of_Oudh_-_(MeisterDrucke-906279).jpg "Shuja-ud-Dawlah (1754-75), Nawab of Oudh by Tilly Kettle")
_Nawab_of_Oudh_-_(MeisterDrucke-906279).jpg)
 and his Ten Sons engraved by P Renault 1796 (coloured aquatint) - (MeisterDrucke-87024).jpg "Shuja ud-daula, Nawab of Oudh (1754-75) and His Ten Sons, Engraved by P. Renault, 1796 by Tilly Kettle")
 and his Ten Sons engraved by P Renault 1796 (coloured aquatint) - (MeisterDrucke-87024).jpg)
.jpg "Eleanor Francis Grant, of Arndilly by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Colonel John Fortnum and Family by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "An Unknown Man by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Oudh by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Dancers by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Eliza and Mary Davidson by Tilly Kettle")
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.jpg "Portrait of A Lady by Tilly Kettle")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-906278).jpg "Eleanor Francis Grant, of Arndilly, c.1764-69 by Tilly Kettle")
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