[2] Such was Sass's commitment to art education that Sir David Wilkie said he could have "taught a stone to draw".

[2] Sass became a student at the Royal Academy and practised his art by copying paintings held at the British Institution.

His early work which was exhibited in 1807 and 1808 at the Royal Academy included, "The Descent of Ulysses into Hell" which Sass also executed as an etching.

Such was Sass's commitment to art education that Sir David Wilie said he could have taught a "stone to draw".

Two years before his death Sass passed the directorship of the school to Francis Stephen Cary due to his failing mental health.