Samuel Nixon (30 June 1804, London – 1854) was a portrait sculptor in London, England.[1]
Career
Nixon's workshop was at 2 White Hart, Bishopsgate (1838–1854). Nixon worked for his friend Henry Doulton who established Royal Doulton.[2]
He is most well known for the Devonshiregranite sculpture of William IV (1844), which was originally located near London Bridge on King William St. and was moved to King William Walk in Greenwich in 1935. Gentleman's Magazine called it "a striking and imposing object… a masterpiece" and "one of the chief ornaments of the City of London." It was, they wrote, "admired by all who are capable of appreciating artistic genius."[3]
Nixon also worked on Goldsmiths' Hall. He created the four marble statues of children that he entitled The Four Seasons (1844). The statues stand on four pedestals on the lower flight of the grand staircase. Gentleman's Magazine described as "a work of the highest merit ... such beautiful personifications."[3]The Illustrated London News declared "'The Goldsmiths' is the most magnificent of all the Halls of the City of London."[5] The white marble statues of "The Seasons" are described as "exquisite" and that Nixon achieved "extreme delicacy" with his "masterly chisel."[5]
Gentleman's Magazine indicated that he has "been employed principally in Sepulchre sculpture, and had executed numerous works of a superior character in that class, many of which have been sent to Canada."[3]
Nixon was the seventh child of Thomas and Sarah Nixon, he was baptised at St Mary-at-Hill on 29 July. His elder brother was James Henry Nixon (1802–1857), a painter on glass.[7] He was also the uncle of James Thomas Nixon.[8]
Gallery
The Statue of William IV in its original location at King William Street, London (1844)
Design for the Principal Door of the House of Lords by Samuel Nixon (1844)
Works
In 1826 he exhibited at the Royal Academy ‘The Shepherd,’ in 1828 ‘The Reconciliation of Adam and Eve after the Fall,’ in 1830 ‘The Birth of Venus,’ and in 1831 ‘The Infant Moses.’
^The Art Journal later recorded that Nixon was responsible for exterior carving on the hall, though the archives of the Goldsmiths’ Company record detailed payments for this work to Thomas Piper II and his son.