COLLECTORS

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January 2021

WILLIAM BOXALL (1800-1879)

Artist William Boxall is of interest because he was familiar with the Nixon family. Boxall was 25 years younger than JMW Turner and just three years older than Rev. Dr. Francis Russell Nixon, Bishop of Tasmania. Boxall painted portraits of Rev. Robert Nixon and Anna Maria Nixon (Anna Maria was the second wife of Francis Russell.

A letter dated 15th October 1837 from Anna and Francis to William Boxall is evidence that there was familiarity between them. Rev. Robert Nixon died less than a month after this letter was written. Rev. Robert Nixon's collection will have passed on to his sons by 1838/39.

If William Boxall's work as an artist was influenced by Rev. Robert Nixon's collection then there are two periods when Boxall may have seen the collection in detail. First when he painted Rev. Robert Nixon's portrait and we may estimate that time to be in the mid 1820's before Robert's move to Scotland; and, second, around 1838 to 1842 before Francis and Anna moved to Tasmania.(At least 5 of William Boxall's works were taken to Tasmania with them.)

List of Rev. Robert Nixon's collection which may have been hung at the home of Francis and Anna from 1838 to 1842:

• JMW TURNER; 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'
• JMW TURNER; 'The Country Waggon, Snowdon - Early Morning'
• JMW TURNER; 'Ruins of Sir Gregory Page Turner's House, Blackheath'
• JMW TURNER; 'River Scene, View on the Dee'
• JMW TURNER; 'Shakespeare's Cliff, Dover'
• GUIDO; 'St. Sebastian'; (said to be Francis and Anna's favourite picture in their collection)
• JOHN VARLEY; 'Landscape'
• JOHN VARLEY; 'Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire'

William Boxall's work that may have been influenced by the above:

• 'A Rocky Shoreline at Sunset'
  Influenced by: 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'; 'Shakespeare's Cliff, Dover'