Artwork Information

Kettle was one of the earliest British painters who worked in India (1769-76), where he made a fortune painting Indian princes. Until recently the subject of this painting was thought to be Lady Lucy Howard née Wentworth. However the type of hat she wears was fashionable in the 1780s indicating that this is a portrait of Anne Vyse, Lady Lucy's daughter. This portrait is unusual in its direct frontal pose and the resolute frankness of the sitter's demeanour. The prominence placed on the ring on her hand, and the inclusion of the ringbox, reinforces that this is a wedding portrait. She died four years after this portrait was painted.