NIXON, John. Original Caricature Design, for 'Hospitality Kicking Avarice Out of Doors; or, New tenants at a mansion house'. THIS ITEM HAS SOLD 1799
Pen, ink & wash, signed 'JN 1799'. Approx. 29 x 40.5cm. Framed & glazed.
¶A highly finished design for a caricature 'sold by all the printsellers in London' and published on November 9, 1799. The print, a framed copy of which is included here, is not recorded in the British Museum. The only other copy we can locate is at the Library of Congress. The caricature depicts the new Lord Mayor of London, Harvey Combe, surrounded by a desperate looking group of people both rich and poor, who kneel, beg and petition him for unknown causes. The outgoing Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Glyn, who was notoriously spendthrift during his period in office, is seen being kicked out of the Mansion House holding a bag inscribed 'savings'. Dorothy George describes Nixon, who died in 1818, as a 'merchant officer of the Bank of England and secretary of the Beefsteak Club, water-colourist and occasional caricaturist'.