diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/inset_locator.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/inset_locator.py
index 08e80ee03817..9b6ede191d84 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/inset_locator.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/inset_locator.py
@@ -309,7 +309,11 @@ def __init__(self, bbox1, bbox2, loc1, loc2=None, **kwargs):
             raise ValueError("transform should not be set")
 
         kwargs["transform"] = IdentityTransform()
-        Patch.__init__(self, fill=False, **kwargs)
+        if 'fill' in kwargs:
+            Patch.__init__(self, **kwargs)
+        else:
+            fill = ('fc' in kwargs) or ('facecolor' in kwargs) or ('color' in kwargs)
+            Patch.__init__(self, fill=fill, **kwargs)
         self.bbox1 = bbox1
         self.bbox2 = bbox2
         self.loc1 = loc1
@@ -579,7 +583,7 @@ def mark_inset(parent_axes, inset_axes, loc1, loc2, **kwargs):
     """
     rect = TransformedBbox(inset_axes.viewLim, parent_axes.transData)
 
-    fill = kwargs.pop("fill", False)
+    fill = ('fc' in kwargs) or ('facecolor' in kwargs) or ('color' in kwargs)
     pp = BboxPatch(rect, fill=fill, **kwargs)
     parent_axes.add_patch(pp)