George Dance the Younger, architect, was a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768. (His brother, Nathaniel, was also a founding member. ) City of London Surveyor and Architect from the age of 27, George the Younger was behind the rebuilt Newgate Prison, the front of the Guildhall, the Royal College of Surgeons and St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, amongst many other structures. In his late years, he was more interested in art than architecture, and after 1798 his Academy contributions consisted solely of chalk portraits of his friends, 72 of which were engraved and published between 1808 and 1814. For some years, he was the last survivor of the 40 original Academicians. Many of his portraits - though not his portrait of Westall - are now held by the National Portrait Gallery, London.
