Eliza and Mary Davidson

"Tilly Kettle was the first professional English portrait painter to go to India. He arrived in Madras in June 1769 and started to portray the English community there. He returned to London in November 1776, and, finding it hard to attract new clientele on his return, he relied on the networks he had established in Madras and Calcutta.

The two girls in this double portrait were the daughters of Alexander Davidson, later Governor of Madras (1785-86), who Kettle had painted while on the subcontinent."