Lot 65
John Nixon(active London, circa 1760-1818)A Cit's Country Box, vid the Connoisseur
Amended
2 July 2025, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£4,000 - £6,000
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John Nixon (active London, circa 1760-1818)
A Cit's Country Box, vid the Connoisseur
signed and dated 'JNixon/1804' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour on paper
49 x 65.5cm (19 5/16 x 25 13/16in).
signed and dated 'JNixon/1804' (lower right)
pencil and watercolour on paper
49 x 65.5cm (19 5/16 x 25 13/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Private Collection, UK
We know the title of this watercolour from a much smaller sketch of the subject by Nixon sold at Christie's, 6 November 1973, lot 15 and recorded in the Mellon archive (PA-F01111-0017). In late 18th century parlance, 'cit' was a derogatory term for a mercantile trader, or as Johnson defines it in the Dictionary of the English Language published in 1771, 'a pert low townsman'. Nixon was not the only one to parody the tradesman-made-good: Robert Lloyd's poem of 1757 makes fun of 'The wealthy cit, grown old in trade/now wishes for the rural shade/and buckles to his one-horse chair/Old Dobbin, or the founder'd mare;/while wedg'd in closely by his side/sits madam, his unweildly bride'.
The object of Nixon's caricature is shown with his entourage in a garden on the banks of the Thames with a distant view of the City of London. His 'country box' has been designed with aspirations to being a castle, the house and grounds are strewn with sculptures and an impressive stone urn in the foreground commemorates a family pet. He protects his property with a large sign hanging in the tree warning of 'REAL MAN TRAPS in these GARDENS' and lest anyone doubt it, a substantial man trap is strung up in the branches. This is a man who has risen in the world and is keen to announce it, but although he has acquired wealth, finesse and good taste elude him.
Nixon's caricatures are in the tradition of his contemporary, Rowlandson, and are generally small in scale. The present work is one of a handful of exceptionally large pieces that he produced, all of almost identical dimensions.
Saleroom notices
This watercolour was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1805, no. 595, with the title The Cit's country box, as described in the 135th number of the Connoisseur. The poem that inspired it, by Robert Lloyd, was first published in the Connoisseur in 1756, in the 135th edition. We are grateful to Mackay Cameron for pointing out that Nixon often included himself in his pictures and that the figure talking to a lady in the centre of this watercolour displays the characteristic blue coat and prominent nose by which identified himself.
