27.50 by 19in. (69.9 by 48.3cm)

Title: PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN, 1786
Note: Thomas Hickey studied at the drawing schools of the Dublin Society and between 1753 and 1756 won several prizes for his work. He was the son of a confectioner in Capel Street. Following some years in Italy furthering his studies, he returned to Dublin where he lived in Little Britain Street in 1767. He exhibited for three consecutive years from 1768 with the Society of Artists in William Street but a lack of patronage forced him to relocate to London. There he showed with the Royal Academy in 1772, 1775 and 1792 and later worked for a time in Bath. He travelled to India in the 1780s. One of Hickey's best known works, in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, was painted during this period, An Indian Lady. Hickey was living in Cavendish Square, London in 1792 and, that same year, became attached to Lord Macartney's mission to China as a portrait painter.

oil on canvas

signed and dated lower centre