Design for rock-work and cascades at Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park (recto). Rock-work Designs (verso)

Thomas Sandby

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thomas Sandby, together with his better-known brother Paul Sandby, had an important influence on the early development of British watercolor practice. He was appointed as the Royal Academy's first professor of architecture and also worked at Windsor as a deputy ranger and architect of the king's works. In the latter capacity, he was responsible for the rock works around Virginia Water, a lake at the south end of the Windsor Great Park. After floods damaged the rock works in 1768 and 1782, Sandby designed a new cascade and grotto and supervised repairs. These lively wash and ink drawings relate to that restoration program, which was part of a broad effort to upgrade the castle and grounds after George III decided to make Windsor his primary country retreat about 1776.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art