The Vandergucht Children

Maker Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723-1792)

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1785

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 30 1/2 × 25 in. (77.5 × 63.5 cm.) frame: 35 3/4 × 33 1/2 × 3 in. (90.8 × 85.1 × 7.6 cm.)

DescriptionTwo children seated nearly three quarter length in a dark wood. One child is nearly full face, turned slightly to the right. The other child is profile view turned to the left. Each is dressed in white muslin, the child in profile has light blue silk sash.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Bequest of Florence M. Quinn

Status

Not on view

Label TextReynolds infuses this portrait with narrative elements from a popular folk tale, ensuring the appeal of the painting long after the sitters were forgotten. The action of the children, one offering food to the other, together with their tender engagement, suggests that we are witnessing an episode in a specific story. Engraved under the title “The Children in the Wood,” the vignette refers to the tale of a brother and sister, lost in a forest, whose innocent slumber prevents their discovery by their wicked uncle’s henchmen.

Bibliography

British paintings at the Huntington

Object number44.108