The Vandergucht Children

Reynolds 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.