The parish records for St Mary Coslany Church, Norwich, show that Robert Dixon was born on 28 September 1780 and was baptised the following week on 8 October.[1] He was trained at the Royal Academy Schools and in his early twenties became a scenery painter for the Theatre Royal in Norwich. He is known to have turned down an offer to work in London with the stage designer William Capon.[2]
In 1803 John Crome and Robert Ladbrooke formed the Norwich Society of Artists, a group that also included Dixon, Charles Hodgson, Daniel Coppin, James Stark and George Vincent. Their first exhibition, in 1805, marked the start of the Norwich School of painters, the first art movement created outside London.[3] He contributed with the Norwich Society of Artists from 1805, but poor health forced to resign his membership from the Society in 1812. He died in 1815, aged 35.[4]
Notes
References
^Robert Dixon in "Archdeacons transcripts for Norwich parishes, 1600-1812", FamilySearch (Robert Dixon).
^Walpole, Art and Artists of the Norwich School, p.150.
^Walpole, Art and Artists of the Norwich School, p.19.
^Walpole, Art and Artists of the Norwich School, p.151.
Bibliography
Walpole, Josephine (1997). Art and Artists of the Norwich School. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club Holme. ISBN1-85149-261-5.
