Portrait of a Gentleman

This Portrait of a Gentleman at Princeton demonstrates Dance's portrait practice beyond the London court circle. His clientele extended to the landed gentry and professional classes who sought accomplished portraiture in the academic manner he had perfected during his Italian training. Dance's portraits combined the formal conventions of Grand Manner portraiture with a cooler, more austere palette and sculptural figure treatment that reflected his years studying in Rome under the influence...

The gentleman's portrait is rendered with Dance's characteristic formal precision, the measured composition and careful drawing reflecting his academic training under Pompeo Batoni in Rome.