George Harry Grey, Lord Grey of Groby, later 5th Earl of Stamford (1737-1819) and his Travelling Companion, Sir Henry Mainwaring, 4th Bt (1726-1797)

Nathaniel Dance's 1760 portrait of Lord Grey of Groby and Sir Henry Mainwaring on the Grand Tour is a classic example of the portrait-cum-travel record that wealthy young Englishmen commissioned as souvenirs of their Italian educations. Dance spent twelve years in Rome, where he developed a practice of painting Grand Tourists in informal, Continental settings. This double portrait, showing the two travelers as educated companions in Italy, belongs to the genre Reynolds had practiced with his early caricature groups but treats its subjects with more formal dignity. The Tour was both cultural education and social ritual for the English upper class.

The double portrait composition places the two men in easy conversational proximity, the informal pose suggesting cultivated friendship rather than formal display. Dance's Rome-trained technique shows Italian influence in the warm lighting and classical setting details. The faces are characterized individually while the composition presents them as a social unit.