John Parker, later 1st Earl of Morley (1772-1840), and his Sister Theresa Parker, later the Hon. Mrs George Villiers (1775-1856), as children

Reynolds painted this double portrait of the Parker children — John and Theresa Parker of Saltram — around 1780 as part of his long association with their family. Reynolds visited Saltram House in Devon multiple times and painted several family members; the house, now a National Trust property, retains works by him in situ. The children are depicted with the unaffected charm Reynolds reserved for child portraits, posed in a landscape that suggests a benevolent Arcadia. John Parker would later become the 1st Earl of Morley, making this record of his childhood part of the Morley family's dynastic narrative.

Reynolds's child portraits show a warmth and immediacy his adult subjects sometimes lack. The children's soft, rounded forms are painted with tender attention, their expressions animated and natural. The landscape behind them is freely painted, serving as a backdrop rather than a fully realized setting.