Tobias Smollet

Tobias Smollett, painted in 1764, depicts the Scottish novelist, surgeon, and travel writer whose picaresque novels Roderick Random and Humphrey Clinker placed him among the founders of the English novel. Smollett had published his Travels Through France and Italy in 1766 and was living on the Continent for health reasons when this portrait was painted—he died in Italy in 1771. Dance's access to Smollett in Rome or the Italian cities where both were resident reflects the density of British cultural life in Italy during this period. The portrait is one of the few known likenesses of Smollett and thus carries documentary importance beyond its aesthetic merits.

Dance captures the novelist with a penetrating directness that suggests genuine acquaintance, the intelligent features animated by the lively temperament evident in Smollett's satirical writing. The restrained palette focuses attention entirely on the face.