Thomas Hickey (painter)

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Peter Rainier (1784-1836) in 1806, just after first being made captain at only 21 under Edward Pellew, painted in India by Thomas Hickey (NMM)

Thomas Hickey's painting 'An Indian Lady (Indian bibi Jemdanee)', 1787, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Thomas Hickey (1741 – 1824) was an Irish painter.

Born in Dublin, Hickey was the son of a confectioner and the brother of John Hickey, the sculptor. Hickey painted primarily portraits and genre scenes. He traveled widely, working in India, Portugal, Italy and England, residing in Bath between 1776 and 1780. On his voyage to India, the vessel in which he was travelling was captured by French and Spanish fleets which led him to Lisbon. He eventually reached Bengal and stayed there until 1791 when he returned to England.^[1] He then traveled as far as Peking, China with George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney as the expedition's official portrait painter.^[2] He may have returned to Dublin in 1796, but by 1798 he had returned to India where he remained until his death in 1824.

In addition to his artistic talents, he is reputed to have been a sparkling conversationalist who rarely failed to charm his sitters. The Courtauld Institute of Art (London), the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Tate and the Victoria Art Gallery (Bath, England) are among the public collections having paintings by Thomas Hickey.^[3]

[edit] References

^ Aspects of Irish Art. National Gallery of Ireland. Cahill & Co. 1974. Pg 109. Retrieved Mar. 18, 2008.
^ [1] Hickey at Princess Grace Irish Library. Retrieved Sep. 30, 2007.
^ Strickland, Walter G., “A Dictionary of Irish Artists”, Irish University Press, Shannon, 1969.