Thomas Major (1719-1799)

This is the fourth study related to copper-plate engravers and engraving in eighteenth-century London.

It continues the theme of relations in this field between Paris, arguably the  centre of the European print trade in the first half of the eighteenth century and London, which increasingly took over this role in the second half of the century.

Thomas Major was, like Charles Grignion, a pupil of the French artist, Gravelot, with whom he travelled to Paris in 1745 to study for three years with Jacques-Philippe Le Bas and Charles-Nicolas Cochin.

Major then pursued a successful career in London as an engraver specialised in landscapes and as a print seller and publisher specialised in imported French prints and plates.

In the second half of his career, Major largely ceased engraving to focus on his role as Seal Engraver to King George III.