Hickey, Thomas

1741

1824

Hickey was born in Dublin and studied at the Academy there. He was in Italy from about 1760 to 1766 and back in Dublin by 1767, where he exhibited from 1768 to 1770. He came to London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1771 at the age of 30. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1771 to 1776, giving his London address as Jermyn Street, then in 1779 from Bath and again in London in 1792. He made his first visit to India, via Portugal, about 1784 and remained there until 1791. Then, from 1792 to 1794, he accompanied Lord Macartney when the latter acted as plenipotentiary in an embassy sent to Peking in an attempt to improve the treatment meted out to English subjects by the Chinese. By 1798 he was back in India, where he appears to have remained for the rest of his life, being buried in Madras. The Garrick Club’s painting of Mrs Abington was identified by Horace Walpole as having been No 150 in the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1775.