Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in a brown coat with gold embroidery, seated, writing with a quill

Dance worked, travelled and studied in Italy in the late 1750s and early 1760s during which time he developed his artistic skills. Aiming to work primarily as a history painter he was elected to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome in 1764. Dance was also a sought-after portrait painter, his most prestigious commission being a full-length portrait of Edward, Duke of York, 1764 (Royal Collection). He also painted the artist Angelica Kauffman, whom he met in Rome.

Dance was a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768 and exhibited there until 1772, when both he and his friend Thomas Gainsborough refused to participate after a disagreement with the then president Sir Joshua Reynolds. He later submitted work to the 1774 and 1776 Royal Academy exhibitions.