John Dixon (1740?–1811)[1] was an Irish mezzotint engraver.
He was born in Dublin about 1740.[2] His father was Thomas Dixon, a hosier, of Cork Hill. His brother Samuel Dixon, was a watercolourist and printmaker.[3] John Dixon received his art training in the Dublin Society's schools, of which Robert West was then master, and began life as an engraver of silver plate. He moved to London about 1765, and in the following year became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, with whom he exhibited until 1775.
Dixon was, in politics, a follower of John Wilkes, and some of his portraits are of other Wilkites. His early publisher was William Wynne Ryland. A handsome man, he married in 1775 Ann, the widow of Nicholas Kempe, one of the owners of Ranelagh Gardens.[1] After that he engraved only as recreation. He later moved to Kensington.[2]
Dixon's portraits of William Carmichael after Ennis, and of Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, after Robert Hunter, are thought to have been engraved before he left Ireland. Soon after his arrival in London he became known for his full-length portrait of David Garrick in the character of "Richard III" in the Shakespeare play, after Nathaniel Dance-Holland.[2] Forty plates by Dixon were described by John Chaloner Smith in British Mezzotinto Portraits. The major engravings are after the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and include:[2]
Besides these portraits, Dixon engraved:[2]
Others works were:[2]