Philip Jean (1755-1802) was born at St Ouen, Jersey and served in the Royal Navy under Admiral Rodney before pursuing a successful career as a miniature painter. He exhibited minaitures at the Royal Academy between 1787 and 1802 and obtained royal patronage, producing miniatures of William, Duke of Clarence (1790), William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1790), Maria, Duchess of Gloucester (1792), Princess Sophia Matilda (1791 and 1795) and Prince William Frederick Duke of Gloucester (1792 and 1802). His is also stated to have produced two whole length oil portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte for the States of Jersey. This recent acquisition for the Royal Collection becomes the fouth signed example of Jean's work in the Royal Collection, joining miniatures of Princess Sophia Matilda dated 1791 (RCIN 420956), Princess Caroline of Wales, commissioned by George, Prince of Wales in 1795 (RCIN 420194); and a pendant containing a miniature of an unknown young girl, signed and dated 1782 (RCIN 23372). Two miniatures attributed to Jean, of Princess Sophia Matilda (RCIN 420924) and William Henry, Duke of Gloucester (RCIN 421070) are also in the Royal Collection.

This miniature of Paul Sandby ranks amongst the most successful miniatures produced by Philip Jean, along with the portrait of the maritime artist Dominic Serres (1719-93) which was exhibited as a pair with the present miniature at the Royal Academy in 1788 (National Portrait Gallery , no. 1909). It demonstrates that when presented with an engaging subject, and with the greater freedom which this unusually large-scale format allowed him, Jean was capable of producing strongly characterised portraits of the highest quality.

Paul Sandby (1731-1809) was born in Nottingham but moved to London in 1751. He is best known for the series of watercolour views of Windsor Castle and its environs which he produced throughout the 1760s. His tour of Wales in the 1770s resulted in the publication of an album of engraved views in 1775. He held the post of chief drawing master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich from 1768 until his retirement in 1796. Sandby is shown in the present miniature at the height of his career, with sketchbook before him and porte-crayon in hand. Windsor Castle appears in the background on the right.