A bawdy tavern scene, probably Dublin

A watercolour showing similar Irish characters is illustrated in A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland, London, 1994, p. 76, pl. 92. The watercolour, depicting a rowdy street scene outside St Patrick's Cathedral, was sold at Sotheby's London, May 1999, 21 May 1999, lot 259 (£43,300).

Nixon was a great friend of Thomas Rowlandson. His exact connections with Ireland are not known but he is thought possibly to have come from either Belfast or County Carlow. What is certain is that his brother Richard was an Irish merchant in London and Nixon travelled regularly in both north and south Ireland. He had a wonderful capacity to capture expression, a talent that led him to excel at caricature.