Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Major, Thomas

1445078Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 35 — Major, Thomas1893Freeman Marius O'Donoghue

MAJOR, THOMAS (1720–1799), engraver, was born in 1720. He was a direct descendant of Richard Major of Hursley, the father-in-law of Richard Cromwell. He resided for some years in Paris, where he associated with the English engravers Andrew Lawrence [q. v.] and John Ingram [q. v.], and was a pupil of Le Bas and Cochin. In October 1746 he was thrown into the Bastille with other Englishmen, as a reprisal for the imprisonment of the Irish regiment of Fitzjames after the battle of Culloden, but was released within ten days through the intervention of the Marquis d'Argenson. On the death of Lawrence in 1747, Major purchased his plates, among them that of the ‘Death of the Stag,’ after Wouvermans, which he completed in 1750, and dedicated to Lord Chesterfield. In Paris Major engraved a number of plates after Berghem, Teniers, Wouvermans, Claude, and other masters; and, after his return to England in 1753, produced many more of the same character which he published himself in St. Martin's Lane. His plates are etched with much taste and skill, and well finished with the graver in the manner of Le Bas. In 1754 Major issued a series of his prints with the title, ‘Recueil d'Estampes gravées d'après les meilleurs tableaux des grands maîtres dont on a fait choix dans les cabinets les plus célèbres d'Angleterre et de France,’ and in 1768 a second edition, with the number increased to sixty-seven. Copies of some of Major's plates, bearing the name Jorma (anagram of Major), were published in Paris by Basan. Major's best figure-subject is Murillo's celebrated ‘Good Shepherd,’ which he engraved from a copy (then thought to be the original) at the time in his possession, but afterwards in the Bridgewater collection; the print was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1776. Major engraved a few portraits, including a series of four of Earl Granville, his two wives and his sister-in-law, Lady Charlotte Fermor, dated 1755 and 1757. In 1768 he published ‘The Ruins of Pæstum, otherwise Posidonia, in Magna Græcia,’ illustrated with excellent plates done from various authorities; this was translated into French in 1769, and into German in 1781. Major was the first English engraver who received the honours of the Royal Academy, being elected an associate in 1770; he held the appointment of engraver to the king, and was for forty years engraver to the stamp office. When the great seal was stolen from the house of Lord-chancellor Thurlow on 24 March 1784, Major, within twenty hours, provided a perfect temporary substitute, and afterwards executed one in silver, which was used until the union with Ireland. He died at his residence in Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, on 30 Dec. 1799, and was buried in Camberwell churchyard.

[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Huber and Martini's Manuel des Curieux, 1808, tom. ix.; Major's manuscript memoir of A. Lawrence, in print room of British Museum; Dodd's Collections in British Museum, Add. MS. 33403; Curtis's Velazquez and Murillo, 1883, p. 185; Royal Academy Catalogues; Gent. Mag. 1799, ii. 1194; Smith's Nollekens and his Times, ii. 333.]

F. M. O'D.