Arthur Young

Inscriptionback to top

Signed and dated lower left: Geo: Dance/May 30th. 1794.

This portraitback to top

The portrait was drawn at a time when Young had become unquestionably the first authority on agriculture in both Great Britain and America. He had been publishing works on the subject continuously since 1758 and his most famous book, Travels in France, appeared in 2 volumes in 1793, the year of his appointment as Secretary to the newly-formed Board of Agriculture - a position he filled to the end of his life. Considering his importance in the agricultural world - George III said to him, 'Mr Young, I consider myself more obliged to you than to any other man in my dominions' (M. Betham-Edwards (ed.), Autobiography of Arthur Young, 1898, p 112) - it is extraordinary that Dance did not see fit to publish the drawing in his Collection of Portraits of eminent characters.

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders profile to left.

Provenanceback to top

Dance family possession until sold by the Rev George Dance, the artist's grandson, Christie's, 1 July 1898 (146) among a large collection of Dance drawings, bought Colnaghi for NPG.

Reproductionsback to top

Soft-ground etching (in reverse) by William Daniell but not published in Dance's Collection of Portraits.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for George Dance

View all known portraits for Arthur Young