This exceptional miniature of a young girl in a large bonnet was painted by Diana Hill (maiden name Dietz, 1760-1844), a British miniature painter who lived and worked in Kolkata between 1786 and 1806. Hill was part of a group of portrait painters who travelled to India in pursuit of more commissions and artistic acclaim, such as John Smart and Ozias Humphry. As a woman artist, Hill’s position was more contested than that of her contemporaries in India. In a telling display of his prejudice, Humphry proclaimed that he would ‘rather have had all the male painters in England landed in Bengal than a single woman.’ Hill nonetheless persisted and built a successful portrait practice amongst the city’s colonial elite. It is likely that she painted portraits for local residents in Kolkata too, including, perhaps, this young girl who is yet to be identified.