Paul Sandby has long been considered the father of English watercolour painting. His career spanned 50 years, documenting a period of history from the Jacobite rebellion to the Napoleonic wars. Sandby had a meticulous eye for detail. Originally a map-maker who turned his cartographer's eye to the painting of landscapes, his paintings depict a nation undergoing social, economic and political change. It was a time of dramatic physical transformation as towns and cities were redesigned and restructured under the influence of the industrial revolution. In 1752, he took up a post with his brother producing landscapes of the royal estates at Windsor (the royal collection includes over 500 images by the Sandby brothers, most of which remain in the royal collections.) In 1768 he became a founder member of the Royal Academy. Thomas Gainsborough recommended Paul Sandby to at least one patron who wanted views of his country estate as the only contemporary English landscape artist who painted 'real views from nature', as opposed to his own imaginary compositions. Art historians have described Sandby as the first artist to fully understand and express the picturesque, but he has also attracted much criticism as representing the prevailing conservatism and pedestrianism in English watercolours.
Paul Sandby has long been considered the father of English watercolour painting. His career spanned 50 years, documenting a period of history from the Jacobite rebellion to the Napoleonic wars. Sandby had a meticulous eye for detail. Originally a map-maker who turned his cartographer's eye to the painting of landscapes, his paintings depict a nation undergoing social, economic and political change. It was a time of dramatic physical transformation as towns and cities were redesigned and restructured under the influence of the industrial revolution. In 1752, he took up a post with his brother producing landscapes of the royal estates at Windsor (the royal collection includes over 500 images by the Sandby brothers, most of which remain in the royal collections.) In 1768 he became a founder member of the Royal Academy. Thomas Gainsborough recommended Paul Sandby to at least one patron who wanted views of his country estate as the only contemporary English landscape artist who painted 'real views from nature', as opposed to his own imaginary compositions. Art historians have described Sandby as the first artist to fully understand and express the picturesque, but he has also attracted much criticism as representing the prevailing conservatism and pedestrianism in English watercolours.