..most notably in the skin tones and the treatment of the white linen.
The girl stands before an orange tree, these were an expensive luxury in Northern Europe, coming as they did from the warm South. The tree shows the wealth of the girl's family but also has considerable symbolic significance.
The orange tree bears leaves, flowers and fruit all at the same time. The leaves, which are evergreen, are the symbol of eternal love, the white flowers represent purity and generosity of spirit and the ripening fruit represent hope for the future of a family or dynasty.
Robert Byng (1666 - 1720) was born in Wiltshire, but is buried in Oxford where he died in 1720, having lived there since before 1714.
He was a pupil of,and very strongly influenced by, Sir Godfrey Kneller (Principal Painter to the King and the most distinguished Baroque portraitist in England).
Byng's earliest dated portraits are c.1697; one of his younger brothers, Edward, was drapery painter to Kneller and his principal assistant.
Size: 36.5 x 31.25 inches inc. period frame.
Provenance: a Norfolk Private Collection.
Roy and nadine precious: specialists in portraiture from the 16th to the 20th century. Established in 1972.
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Sold...portrait of a Young Girl C.1700, by Robert Byng
