Sandby’s importance lies in his adoption of aquatint. His ‘XII Views in South Wales’ are the first printed in England. In 1753 he took up lodging with his brother in Windsor Park and began a career as a drawing master, painter and engraver to the nobility. He quickly gained the attention of Sir Joseph Banks who became one of his most important patrons, and that of the Royal family. Much of his early work is of Windsor and surrounding countryside. This is from one of his early series on Windsor and Eton. The series of five views are considered by Nicholas Potter to be “amongst his finest works both as images and in the quality of the engraving.” A further source stated “This essentially social quality of Sandby’s work, which directs our attention less to the physical environment than to people who occupy it, is a precedent that would be passed on to Sandby’s student Michael ‘Angelo’ Rooker and, through Rooker, to J.M.W. Turner”. MacKenzie (1998) p. 300; Russell (1979) p. 38; Potter, N, ‘British Topographical Prints’ in ‘The Map Collector’ no. 23 p. 5.