This portrait of two children, most likely siblings, is featured in 'The Dictionary of 16th and 17th Century British Painters' by Ellis Waterhouse, 1988, page 40, and listed as 'wherabouts unknown' until recently rediscovered in a private collection in Sweden.

Robert Byng (Wiltshire 1666-1720 Oxford)  was a portrait painter born in Wiltshire to Thomas and Anne 'Binge'.  His younger brother Edward was drapery painter to Kneller and his principal assistant until Kneller's death. His earliest dated portraits were painted c.1697 and show the influence of Kneller who also may have been his master.  There are drawings by both Edward and Robert Byng in the British Museum which include a large number of studies of portraits by Kneller.

This is a beautiful example of Byng's talent for child portraiture. There is a softness and sensitivity in his approach and he uses simple yet decorative devices to add layers of meaning and to emphasize the childrens' innocence and youth - the pet dog representing loyalty and friendship and the basket of flowers and orange blossom, purity, innocence and readiness for marriage. The angel looking down on them is likely to be a representation of another sibling who has passed away and the parents' desire to commemorate them in the portrait alongside their other children.