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'Portrait of Lady in Blue’ by Thomas Hickey (attributed)
Ref: 5347
A portrait that’s been in an antique furniture dealer’s house for many yrs, until last week in fact. Both myself and Adam Busiakiewiecz, the art historian, & he unprompted by me, thought right away of the name “Hickey’ when seeing it. Adam has researched a Hickey for us before & we have works by the artist in the house, so we should know a thing or two. When I took the frame off and saw that it was originally painted in oval, which was a favoured mode for the smaller portraits of this artist, then I was thoroughly convinced, as further research hasn’t yet been undertaken it’s nevertheless listed here as “Attributed to..”.
Thomas Hickey (1741-1824) was an Irish artist who worked in England and later India, he was chiefly a portrait painter, who plied his trade in a very competitive time, he is a favourite of mine and I particularly like his smaller portraits like this one of upper middle-class and lesser gentry, they have an appealing intimacy and naturalism, Hickey can bring out the quirky individuality in a face, his sitters at times have a soulful, almost melancholy look about them, this is especially so in his portraits of children, & women, it’s as if he’s encapsulating a vulnerability & insecurity in people as social beings, an intrusion of the private in the public mask, & perhaps he’s projecting that a little from himself? He worked in Bath for a while, in the 1770s, with a host of others, all in the shadow of the reputation of Gainsborough, seeking the new money of Georgian high society, he famously went bust, after that seeking to ply his trade amongst the British in India, with more success.
This work comes with a period gilded frame, you can see it in one of the detail images on the second page.
British c.1770-1800
H: 30cm (11.8in)
W: 24cm (9.4in)
D: 2cm (0.8in)
£1450
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