Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hickey, Thomas
HICKEY, THOMAS (fl. 1760–1790), painter, was born in Dublin and studied in the Academy there. He visited Italy and studied at Rome, and on his return practised as a portrait-painter in London. In the Mansion House at Dublin there are portraits by him of George, first marquis Townshend (1769), and of John, fourth duke of Bedford. In London there is at the Garrick Club a portrait of Mrs. Abington, and at the Magdalen Hospital a full-length portrait of Mr. Justice Park. Hickey's portrait of Daniel Race, chief cashier to the Bank of England (1772), was engraved in mezzotint by J. Watson. Hickey also practised at Bath, and appears to have visited India, being probably the author of ‘The History of Painting and Sculpture from the Earliest Accounts,’ published (vol. i. only) at Calcutta in 1788. He accompanied Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1792. A drawing of a Chinese scene is now in the print room at the British Museum.
Hickey, John (1756–1795), sculptor, elder brother of the above, born in Dublin in 1756, was pupil of Mr. Cranfield, a wood-carver, and after practising some time in Dublin with success, came to London. He was patronised by Edmund Burke, and became a student in the Royal Academy, where in 1778 he obtained the gold medal for a bas-relief of ‘The Slaughter of the Innocents.’ He showed great promise, but intemperate habits caused his early death in London, 12 Jan. 1795.
[Pasquin's Artists of Ireland; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]