The sitters are the second and third sons of Charles Thorold Wood of Thoresby, Lincolnshire, a Captain in the Royal Horse Guards. On 1 January 1812 he married Jane Thorold, daughter of Sir John Thorold, Bt., of Syston Park, Lincolnshire. The picture and its pendant, which remains in the family collection, are referred to in a letter written by the sitters' mother in Edinburgh, in which she records that her children had been painted by 'Mr. Henry Raeburn'.

We are grateful to Dr. David Mackie for his help in cataloguing this work.