(1734/5 - 1786)
Tilly Kettle was born in London where he practised as a successful portrait painter from about 1764 to 1769. In 1769 he went to India and was the first serious portrait painter to do so. In India Kettle painted portraits of British and Indian dignitaries and scenes of local life. He left India, to return to London, in 1776 and married Mary, of whom little is known, shortly after his arrival. The couple had two daughters and a son. Kettle struggled financially in London, failing to recover enough clients to support his family. He briefly visited Dublin and Brussels, but died near Aleppo, in northern Syria, attempting to return to India to recoup his fortune.
