Johannes Kip was a draughtsman and engraver, who worked first in his native Amsterdam before moving to London at the end of the seventeenth century. He did portraits, views, and book illustrations. His most important work was this lovely and informative series of bird's-eye views of English country seats. Kip originally collaborated on this project with a fellow Dutch artist, Leonard Knyff, Knyff doing the drawings and Kip the etchings. But as the project developed, Kip created his own drawings as well as doing the etchings.