Thomas Hickey (1741–1824)

• Was an Irish painter.
• Born in Dublin.
• Hickey was the son of Noah, a confectioner in Capel Street, and Anne Hickey.
• He was trained at the Royal Dublin Society schools under Robert West.
• He traveled widely, working in India, Portugal, Italy and England, residing in Bath between 1776 and 1780.

• On his voyage to India his vessel was captured by French and Spanish fleets which led him to Lisbon, where, after receiving a number of commissions, he remained for several years.

• He eventually reached Bengal and stayed there until 1791 when he returned to England.

• He then traveled as far as Peking, China with George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney as the expedition's official portrait painter.

• He returned to Ireland in January 1796.

• By 1798 he had returned to India where he landed just in time for the start of the Fourth Mysore War.

• In Mysore he was commissioned to make a number of sketches depicting family members of Mysore's ruler Tipu Sultan.

• He resided in Madras until his death in 1824.

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