A Child of Paul Sandby (oil on canvas)

A baby girl wearing a white bonnet and dress lies propped against a white pillow in the bottom left side of the picture. She is partially covered by a white sheet edged with gold tasselling. In the top right of the picture three angels or cherubim appear to watch over the baby from a pink-tinged cloud. All are golden-haired, and dressed in diaphanous floating robes. The angel in the centre, of which only the head and arms are visible, looks down at the child, and raises clasped hands, as if in prayer. Paul Sandby (1731–1809) was an English map-maker turned landscape painter, and one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, along with his older brother Thomas Sandby.