Portrait of Olive Craster

This 1762 portrait of Olive Craster at Minneapolis demonstrates Dance's refined approach to female portraiture. His women's portraits balanced the fashionable elegance expected by Georgian sitters with individual characterization and warmth. 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 of Pompeo Batoni.

The portrait renders Miss Craster with youthful beauty and refined elegance, Dance's smooth technique and careful attention to costume creating a flattering image within Georgian portrait conventions.