This volume looks both at Ignatius Sancho's accomplishment and the context in which they were achieved. Including themes, such as Sancho's frienship with Laurence Sterne and the effect this had on his writing, the influence of his patron the Duke of Montagu and Sancho's position amongst the black musicians of his day, the text also encompasses wider issues, such as abolitionism and the slave trade. With Gainsborough's portrait of Sancho illustrated, art-historical themes are also addressed in the book's introductory essay.