Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727–1785), RA

Giovanni Battista Cipriani, painted around 1773, depicts the Florentine-born artist who was a founding member of the Royal Academy alongside Dance himself, a decorative painter who collaborated with Robert Adam on some of the most significant interior design projects of the Georgian period. Cipriani specialized in the graceful Neoclassical decorative painting—nymphs, amorini, classical scenes in delicate color—that Adam used to ornament his interior schemes at Syon House, Kenwood, and elsewhere. Dance's portrait of a fellow founding Academician documents the collegial relationships within the Royal Academy's first generation. Cipriani's Florentine training gave him the classical figure painting skills that London's decorative market demanded.

Dance portrays his fellow Royal Academician with an informality suggesting personal friendship, the composition more relaxed than his formal commissions. The warm palette and direct gaze create a sense of lively artistic personality.