George Dance the Younger

The facade of the London Guildhall designed by George Dance the Younger

George Dance the Younger RA (born April 1, 1741 in London , Great Britain , † January 14, 1825 there ) was a British architect , surveyor and painter .

life and work

George Dance the Younger was born as the fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder on Chiswell Street in London and attended St Paul's School there . From December 1758 he left Gravesend on the Grand Tour . In Florence he met his brother Nathaniel , with whom he moved on to Rome . At the Accademia di San Luca he dealt with the measurement and creation of various drawings of ancient buildings in Rome. During his stay in Rome he made contact with numerous well-known personalities such as James Adam , Robert Mylne , Peter Grant and Giovanni Battista Piranesi . A design submitted to the Accademia di Parma in 1762 for a public gallery in the classical style won the gold medal in 1763. In 1765 Dance returned to London.

Back in London, Dance began working with his father as an architect. His first project was All Hallows-on-the-Wall Church , which was completed in 1767. After his father's death in 1768, he succeeded him as a surveyor in London. In this function he built a number of public buildings such as the new construction of the Newgate prison , the front of the Guildhall , the church of St Bartholomew-the-Less . Many of the buildings designed by Dance have since been demolished, including the Royal College of Surgeons , Shakespeare Gallery and others.

Also in 1768 Dance was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts . His students later included famous architects of classicism such as John Soane and Robert Smirke . On March 24, 1772 he married Mary Gurnell, with whom he had three children: Thomas (1773-1813), George (1778-1813) and Charles Webb (1785-1844). Mary Dance died in 1791. From 1798 he turned more and more to painting; many of his works are owned by well-known galleries such as the National Portrait Gallery .

In 1815 Dance withdrew from active work as an architect. The last years of his life were marked by poor health. His tomb is in St Paul's Cathedral .

Selection of works Dances

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  All Hallows-on-the-Wall, London

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  London Guildhall, about 1805

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  Detail of the main entrance, London Guildhall

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  Cranbury House

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  Drawing room in Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing

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  St. Bartholomew the Less, London

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  St. Bartholomew the Less, London

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  Newgate Prison, London, being demolished

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  Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, ceiling designed by Dance

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  Royal College of Surgeons, London, portico designed by Dance

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  Wesley's Chapel, London

literature

• Howard Colvin: A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840. New Haven 1997, ISBN 0-300-07207-4 .
• Michael Hugo-Brunt: George Dance, the Younger, as Town Planner (1768-1814). In: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians , Vol. 14, No. 4, Town Planning Issue (Dec., 1955), pp. 13-22.
• Roger Bowdler: Dance, George, the younger (1741-1825). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004.