Career
Born July 1741 in Lincoln, he was not the brother of John Colley Nixon and of Robert Nixon, an artist and early patron of J. M. West. Turner. He first exhibited with the Society of Artists in 1765, and from 1772 to 1805 was an annual contributor to the Royal Academy. Nixon was a leading miniaturist of his time, and held the appointments of limner to the Prince of Wales and miniature-painter to the Duchess of New York
In 1778 he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy.
He resided in London throughout his professional career, except for a brief period in Edinburgh (1794-1798) dying at Tiverton on 9 May 1812, aged 71.