Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/310

 MAS

MAT

cated in Devonshire, he was articled to Robert Branston in 1808, and at the end of his seven years' apprenticeship was em- ployed by him for five years further. In 1821 he commenced on his own account. He also gave some lectures on his art at the London Mechanics' Institution, the Royal Institution, and the London Institu- tion. In November 1829 he sailed for New York ? and settling there was elected an associate of the New York Academy of Design and professor of wood engraving. George Cruikshank's 16 illustrations to ' Tales of Humour and Gallantry,' 1824, are engraved by him.

MASON, George Hemmino, A.R.A., subject painter. He was born at W itley ? in Staffordshire, of a good family, possessing property in the county, and was intended for the medical profession, for which he studied during five years at Birmingham. But he was attracted to art, and quitting his profession he travelled on the Continent in 1844, visited France, Germany. Switzer- land, and Italy, and finally settled at Rome, where he resided several years. He sent his first picture, ' Ploughing in the Cam- pagna,' to the Academy in 1857 ? and re- turned to England in the following year, when he exhibited * In the Salt Marshes. Campagna ; ' in 1862, ' Mist on the Moors ; in 1864, ' Returning from Ploughing ; ' in 1865, * The Gander' and * The Geese ; ' in 1867, 'The Unwilling Playmate;' in 1868. 1 The Evening Hymn,' which was followed by his election as an associate of the Royal Academy. Then in 1869 he exhibited his 'Dancing Girls' and 'Only a Shower;' in 1871, 'The Milkmaid' and ' Blackberry Gathering;' and in 1872 his last and greatest work, ' The Harvest Moon.' He had for many years suffered from heart disease, to which he fell a victim October 22, 1872, aged 54. His early Roman scenes are powerful and full of rich colour, the climate finely studied. His English scenes are equally fine as studies of climate, tender in mists ; his ' Dancing Girls ' and 'The Gander' lovely bits of nature; his ' Harvest Moon ' full of sweet poetry.

MASON, William, animal painter. He practised in the latter half of the 18th century. J. Jenkins and R. Pollard en- graved horse-races after him; and Val. Green produced in 1783 a fine mezzo-tint of his ' Scene in a Country Fair at Race Time.'

MASON, James, engraver. Born in 1710. He gained a reputation as a clever artist, and particularly in landscape — to which his art was almost confined— repre- senting the effect of colour with much skill. He was in 1766 a member of the Incor- porated Society of Artists. Employed by Boydell, he produced for him some plates jointly with Yivares, Oanot, and others.

He engraved after Claude, Poussin, and some of the Dutch masters; and after George Lambert and several of his own contemporaries. He died about 1780. MASQUERIER, John James, portrait

fainter. Was born at Chelsea, of French rotestant parents, in October 1778, and returned with them in 1789 to Paris, and studied art in that capital. He became a favourite pupil of Vernet, and was a witness of the frightful scenes of the revolution of 1792. He then found the means of getting to England, and was admitted a student of the Academy. In 1796 he first exhibited a portrait, with 'The Incredulity of St. Thomas,' which is still the altar-piece of the chapel in Duke Street, Westminster ; and was from that time a frequent con- tributor to the Academy Exhibitions at the commencement of the 19th century. His works were almost exclusively portraits, but in 1800 he exhibited 'The Fortune Teller;' in 1803, 'The First Meeting of Petrarch and Laura;' in 1808, 'January and May ; ' with, occasionally, a portrait in character. In 1800 he visited Paris, and was enabled to make a sketch of the First Consul : this work he exhibited in London in the following year, and being the first genuine likeness of Buonaparte seen here, produced him a profit of 1000Z. He then commenced a successful career as a portrait painter, and in 1812 married a lady of good connections. He had in 28 years* practice painted about 400 portraits, and in 1823 he retired upon a competence he had earned by his profession to Brighton. But he continued an occasional exhibitor of por- traits at the Academy, and in 1831 exhi- bited ' A Marriage in the Church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris;' followed in 1838 by 'Buonaparte and Marie Louise viewing the Tomb of Charles the Bold at Bruges.' his last exhibited work. He died at Brignton^after 30 years' residence, March 13, 1855. Baroness Burdett Coutts has a fiw-lengtii portrait by him of Miss Mellon as 'Mrs. Page' in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' which he exhibited in 1804.

MASSON, Andrew, landscape painter and drawing master. Was Dorn near Edinburgh in 1750. In 1824 he resided for six weeks in the Bell Rock Lighthouse, making studies of the action of the waves from thence, for J. M. W. Turner, R.A. He made a spirited drawing of the light- house in a storm, engraved by J. Horsburgh as a frontispiece to Robert Stephenson's ac- count of the peculiarities of structure, and de- tails of erection. He died in November 1825.

MATHESON, Robert, architect. Was born at Tain in Rossshire, m 1808. He came early to Edinburgh, and entered the office of Mr. Reed, the King's architect, and afterwards that of Mr. Nixon, and on the death of the latter he was appointed