James Nixon (painter)

James Nixon (c.1741–1812) was an English miniature-painter.

Life

Born July 1741 in Lincoln, he was not the brother of John Colley Nixon and of Robert Nixon, an artist and early patron of J. M. W. Turner. He first exhibited with the Society of Artists in 1765, and from 1772 to 1805 was an annual contributor to the Royal Academy. ^[1]

Nixon was a leading miniaturist of his time, and held the appointments of limner to the Prince of Wales and miniature-painter to the Duchess of York; in 1778 he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy. He resided in London throughout his professional career, except for a brief period in Edinburgh (1794-98) dying at Tiverton on 9 May 1812, aged 71.^[1]

Works

Portrait of Elizabeth Farren (1759–1829), later Countess of Derby, c.1780, miniature by James Nixon

Nixon painted Elizabeth Farren and other theatrical celebrities, as well as figures of Shakespearean characters. He sent some portraits in oil to the Royal Academy, and in 1786 a series of ten designs illustrating Tristram Shandy. His portraits of Dr. Francis Willis, the Duchess of Devonshire, Elizabeth Hartley, and the sisters Jenny and Nelly Bennet were engraved.^[1]

Notes

1.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Nixon, James". Dictionary of National Biography 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Nixon, James". Dictionary of National Biography 41. London: Smith, Elder & Co.