This miniature 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 she painted the portraits of local residents too.