James Grant of Grant, John Mytton, the Hon. Thomas Robinson, and Thomas Wynne

This 1760 group portrait of four young British gentlemen on their Grand Tour—James Grant of Grant, John Mytton, the Hon. Thomas Robinson, and Thomas Wynne—is one of Dance's most important works and a significant document of the Grand Tour culture that shaped Georgian aristocratic identity. The four are depicted in Rome with the casual ease of wealthy young men enjoying the cultural pilgrimage that was the expected culmination of a gentleman's education. Dance, himself in Rome as a resident student, painted numerous such groups of British visitors, establishing his reputation as the portraitist of the Grand Tour generation. Grant would become a notable political figure; the others represent the typical provincial gentry whose sons made the Tour.

The multi-figure composition demonstrates Dance's ambition beyond simple bust portraits, arranging the four sitters in a relaxed grouping with classical Roman architecture in the background. The influence of Batoni's Grand Tour portrait formula is clearly evident.