Samuel Nixon (30 June 1804, London – 1854) was a portrait sculptor in London, England.

Career

Nixon's workshop was at 2 White Hart, Bishopsgate (1838–1854). Nixon worked for his friend

Henry Doulton Sir Henry Doulton (25 July 1820 – 18 November 1897) was an English businessman, inventor and manufacturer of pottery, instrumental in developing the firm of Royal Doulton. Life Born in Vauxhall, Henry was the second of the eight children of Jo ...

who established

Royal Doulton Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...

. He is most well known for the

Devonshire Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is a ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

sculpture of

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

(1844), which was originally located near

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

on King William St. and was moved to Greenwich in 1935.

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''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." He repeatedly exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

(1824–1846). Nixon also worked on

Goldsmiths' Hall Goldsmiths' Hall is a Grade I listed building at the junction of Foster Lane and Gresham Street in the City of London. It has served as an assay office and the headquarters of London's goldsmith guild, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, one o ...

. 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."

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

declared "'The Goldsmiths' is the most magnificent of all the Halls of the City of London." The white marble statues of "The Seasons" are described as "exquisite" and that Nixon achieved "extreme delicacy" with his "masterly chisel." 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." He died at Kennington House,

Kennington Common Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785.G B Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' ...

in 1854.

Family

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 James Henry Nixon (1802–1857) was an illustrator and painter during the Victorian period, who worked in the firm Ward and Nixon painting stained glass windows. James Henry Nixon was a protégé of Charles Winston, who praised Nixon's work at W ...

(1802–1857), a painter on glass. He was also the uncle of James Thomas Nixon.

Gallery

File:King William IV, King William St, London.png, The statue of William IV in its original location at King William Street, London (1844) File:Beaufoy Institute (8668009599).jpg, Beaufoy Institute (1850) File:EH1286469 Goldsmiths Hall 03.jpg,

File:Winter, The Seasons by Samuel Nixon, London Illustrated News, 13 Jan 1844.png, Engraving of ''Winter'' ('' Diana''), from ''The Seasons'' File:Spring, The Seasons by Samuel Nixon, London Illustrated News, 13 Jan 1844.png, Engraving of ''Spring'' (''

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

''), from ''The Seasons'' File:Summer, The Seasons by Samuel Nixon, London Illustrated News, 13 Jan 1844.png, Engraving of ''Summer'', from ''The Seasons'' File:Autumn, The Seasons by Samuel Nixon, London Illustrated News, 13 Jan 1844.png, Engraving of ''Autumn'', from ''The Seasons'' File:William Bruce Almon monument by Samuel Nixon, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg, ''

Parable of the Good Samaritan The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First, a Jewish priest and then a ...

'',

St. Paul's Church (Halifax) St. Paul's Church is an evangelical Anglican church in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, within the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is located at the south end of the Grand Parade, an open sq ...

(1840) File:Hibbert Newton Binney's son Monument by Samuel Nixon, St. Paul's Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg, ''

Shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

'',

(1835) File:John Carpenter statue - City of London School.jpg, Statue of

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , speciali ...

(exhibited at

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

in 1844) File:Dr. Richard Valpy by Samual Dixon, St. Lawrence Church, Reading, England.jpg, Statue of

Richard Valpy Richard Valpy (7 December 1754 – 28 March 1836) was a British schoolmaster and priest of the Church of England. Life and career Valpy was born the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Valpy in Jersey. He was sent to schools in Normandy and ...

, Headmaster of

Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...

St Laurence's Church, Reading St Laurence's Church is a Church of England mission and former parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated alongside the site of Reading Abbey, formerly bounded by the main Compter Gate to the south and ...

(c. 1835) (

Roche Abbey Roche Abbey is a now-ruined abbey in the civil parish of Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the valley of Maltby Dyke, known locally as Maltby Beck, and is administered by English Heritage. It is a scheduled monument and Gr ...

stone) File:Design for the Principle Door of the House of Lords by Samuel Nixon (1844).png, Design for the Principal Door of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

by Samuel Nixon (1844)

Works

* In 1826 he exhibited at the

‘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.’ * Shakespeare (plaster bust after

Shakespeare's funerary monument The Shakespeare funerary monument is a memorial to William Shakespeare located inside Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the church in which Shakespeare was baptised and where he was buried in the chancel two days afte ...

(1846) *

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...

, Plaster bust, (after bust in

St Andrew Undershaft St Andrew Undershaft is a Church of England church in the City of London, the historic nucleus and modern financial centre of London. It is located on St Mary Axe, within the Aldgate ward, and is a rare example of a City church that survived both ...

* Sir John Crosby, Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate Street * Birth of Venus * Dean Andrews (minister), St Nicolas Church,

Great Bookham Great Bookham is a village in Surrey, England, one of six semi-urban spring line settlements between the towns of Leatherhead and Guildford. With the narrow strip parish of Little Bookham, it forms part of the Saxon settlement of ''Bocham'' ("the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

* The ‘Four Seasons’, Goldsmiths’ Hall, City of London, grand staircase * Rev. William Rodber, St Mary-at-Hill * William Johnson Rodber,

St Mary-at-Hill St Mary-at-Hill is an Anglican parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap. It was founded in the 12th century as "St. Mary de Hull" or "St. Mary de la Hulle". It was se ...

(1843) * Richard Johnston Rodber * Rev. William Parker,

St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street station. The church was severely damaged by an IRA bomb in 1993. Following rebuilding and restoration i ...

*Thomas Reynolds,

Boxmoor Boxmoor is part of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is within the district of Dacorum and comprises mainly 19th-century housing and meadowland, with transport links from London to the Midlands. At the 2011 Census, the population of Boxmoor wa ...

, Herts *Samuel Whiteway,

Kingsteignton Kingsteignton ( ), is a town and civil parish in South Devon, England. It lies at the head of the Teign Estuary to the west of Teignmouth in the Teignbridge district. It is bypassed by the A380 and is also on the A383, A381, B3193 and B3195. ...

, Devon * A relief bust of

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

, Sotheby Olympia, 25 April 2002; private coll *

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a young ...

, Bronze statuette after S. Nixon.

Marshall Library of Economics The Marshall Library of Economics is a library of the University of Cambridge, England. History The library is the outgrowth of a Moral Sciences Library begun in 1885 by Professor Alfred Marshall and Professor Henry Sidgwick, consisting largely ...

, Cambridge. (1846) * George Wynch,

Pett Pett is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is located north-east of Hastings on the edge of Pett Level, the one-time marshes stretching along the co ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

(1836) * The Gillespie Monument, St. John's Wood Chapel * Philip Lucas (minister),

Hackney (parish) Hackney was a parish in the historic county of Middlesex. The parish church of St John-at-Hackney was built in 1789, replacing the nearby former 16th-century parish church dedicated to St Augustine (pulled down in 1798). The original tower of th ...

(1830) *Revd. George Avery Hatch,

St Vedast Foster Lane Saint Vedast Foster Lane or Saint Vedast-alias-Foster, a church in Foster Lane, in the City of London, is dedicated to St. Vedast (Foster is an Anglicisation of the name "Vaast", as the saint is known in continental Europe), a French saint whose ...

(1837) *Martha Hatch, daughter of Henry Emlyn of Windsor”, St Vedast Foster Lane *John Marshall,

St. Leonard's, Shoreditch St Leonard's, Shoreditch, is the ancient parish church of Shoreditch, often known simply as Shoreditch Church. It is located at the intersection of Shoreditch High Street with Hackney Road, within the London Borough of Hackney in East London. The ...

*Design for the principal door of the

, illustrating scenes from the life of

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

The Seasons, Goldsmiths Hall, London by Samuel Nixon

William Johnson Rodber, St Mary-at-Hill by Samuel Nixon

Links

Samuel Nixon – A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660–1851

Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 41

References