Frederick Cornwallis (1713–1783), Archbishop of Canterbury (1768–1783)

This earlier portrait of Frederick Cornwallis, painted in 1763 before his elevation to Canterbury, shows him as Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry—the major see he held before Canterbury. The two Cornwallis portraits, five years apart, document the Archbishop's rise through the ecclesiastical hierarchy and Dance's sustained relationship with the sitter across his own career's development. The 1763 version shows Dance working in a slightly more tentative manner than the assured 1768 version, the comparison documenting his growth in confidence and technical facility across the decade. Cornwallis's career advancement between the two sittings is precisely documented in the changed insignia of his office.

The episcopal portrait is more restrained than the later archiepiscopal version, with the simpler robes of a bishop creating a less imposing but more intimate image. Dance's smooth handling captures the comfortable assurance of a well-connected Georgian prelate.