Christopher Norton

Christopher Norton, painted in 1760 during Dance's early career while he was still based in Rome, documents the early portrait commissions that established his reputation among British visitors to Italy. Norton, whose precise identity remains somewhat uncertain, was likely a young British gentleman on the Grand Tour—the steady stream of aristocratic and upper-gentry visitors who provided Roman-based British artists with steady portrait income. Dance's facility in capturing the particular combination of confidence and cultural aspiration that characterized Grand Tour visitors gave him an advantage over Continental portraitists who lacked the cultural insider knowledge of their British clients' social world.

The early portrait shows Dance's developing style, with the smooth finish and restrained palette of his Italian training combined with the more direct, practical approach to likeness that the English portrait market demanded.