Captain Sir Basil Keith (d. 1777)

Captain Sir Basil Keith served as Governor of Jamaica during a turbulent period that included the American Revolutionary War and the complex social politics of the Caribbean slave economy. Keith died in 1777 while still in office, and his governorship coincided with the increasing pressure on the plantation system from both abolitionist sentiment in Britain and the practical disruptions of the American war. Dance's portrait, painted around 1773 before Keith's Jamaica appointment, shows the naval officer in the formal dress of his rank. The portrait documents Dance's access to the naval and colonial officer class that moved between London society and the far reaches of the British Empire.

The naval portrait follows Georgian conventions with the officer in uniform against a dark background, Dance's controlled technique capturing the weathered features of a career officer with understated directness.