Captain James Cook, 1728-79

Dance-Holland painted Captain James Cook in 1775, following Cook's return from his second Pacific voyage. This portrait became the definitive image of the great navigator and was widely reproduced. Cook would depart on his fatal third voyage the following year, dying in Hawaii in 1779. Dance's portraits combined the formal conventions of Grand Manner portraiture with a cooler, more austere palette and sculptural figure treatment that reflected his years studying in Rome under the influence...

Dance presents Cook with directness and simplicity, avoiding grandiloquence in favor of honest characterization. The plain background and naval uniform focus attention on Cook's weather-beaten face.