Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/815

* MAIZE BEEB. 723 MAJOR. MAIZE BEER. See Beer. MAIZE OIL. See Maize. MAIZEROY, ma'z'-rwa'. Ren^, Baron (185t) — ) . . French roinancer wlio wrote under the nom de plume Maizeroy, a name of a branch of his family, though his own was Toussaint. He was born at Metz, was educated at the College of Saint Clement, the Toulouse Lyceum, and the Saint Cyr military school, whence he entered an infantry reg- iment as sub-lieutenant in 1877, but resigned in three years to take up literature as a profession. He began with military subjects, 8ouvcni7-s d'un Saini-Ci/rien (1880): Le capitaine Bricd-Brac (1880) : All regiment (1885) ; Amours de garni- soil (1886) ; La vie de soldat (1887) ; Souvenirs d'un ofpcier (1888); and Billets de logement (1888). After a course of journalistic writing for the Gaulois, Figaro, Oil Bias, La Vie Moderne, and Clairon, he wrote many romances, such as the series entitled Les amours def endues (1884), an- other called Les Parisiennes (1883-90), and a third. La grande bleue (1888), which contains sea studies. His sketches of Parisian life include Les malchaiieeux (1880): Lc mnl d'aimer (1882); Celles qui oseut ! (1883): I'elites femmes (1885) ; La fin de Paris (1886) ; Lalie Spring (1887) ; and Des haisers du sang (1808), and he also wrote plays such as Le »H!roir( 1892) and I'ara la Vertu (1899). MAJESTY. See Titles of Honor. MAJOL'ICA, It. pron. ma-yo'le-ka. or MAIO- LICA (It., variant of .Maiorca, Sp. Mallorca, Majorca, whence the first specimens of the ware were brought). The highlj' decorated faience (q.v. ) of the Xorthern Italian towns between 1500 and about 1620; as well as some South Italian wares of later date, the most important of which is that of Castelli in the Abruzzi. The most brilliant pieces of majol- ica are of the seventeenth century, and their special merit is found in the decorative charac- ter of the painting. The forms of the vessels are often refined, as in the jars painted with the names of medicaments and intended for the dis- pensary of the great monastery or of the ducal palace: as well as for certain vases and platters of more purely decorative character. The greater number of pieces are plates and dishes, often deep, and many of these have peculiar forms, as when a deep, almost hemispherical bowl is sur- rounded by a broad, flat marly, the whole upper side being painted in one design. The forms, however, are not more graceful nor do they in- volve more elaboration of design than in other far inferior wares : the painting, on the other hand, is altogether unique in the history of decorative art. The rival potters and painters of the manufactories at Faenza, Urbino, Castel- Durante (l'rl)anla). and Gubbio. in the ancient Duchy of Urliino. Cafaggiolo, on the road be- tween Florence and Bologna, and Deruta, near Perugia, vied with one another in the use of that admirable system of decoration which in the six- teenth century prevailed throughout Italy. In this way. wliilc the forms were kept sini|)le and on the whole severe, the painting giTw more and more splendid in pigments and also nobler in composition, both in line and in color. The decorations are of many types; thus in one large round dish, the whole surface will he cov- ered minutely with scrollwork of that kind most commonly called araljesque, though having no Oriental character whatever, the scrolls them- selves, and the animal and human forms mingled with them, being derived from ancient Roman ex- amples and akin to those used by the painters of the school of Raphael in Rome. Another dish of about the same size may have but a single por.trait head, perhaps of a lady, filling the whole disk, the colors being those of nature as nearly as obtainable, and a scroll with some laudatory or amatory motto forming a part of the back- ground, between the convolutions of which a grave neutral color is worked in. Other similaif plates or dishes have biblical or historical scenes treated freely and with reference in many cases to important mural paintings of the time. Again, others have the human figure nude, or nearly nude, studied from drawings or prints by artists of the same epoch, notably certain engravings of Mareantonio Raimondi, after designs by Raphael. The introduction, about 1520, of lustre-colors in imitation of the Hispano-Moresco wares added greatly to the brilliancy of the effect. The greatest master in such lustre-painting was Gior gio Andreoli, commonly called Maestro Giorgio, who seems to have possessed the secret of the ruby lustre, which died with him. His work is generally identified with the manufacture at Gub- bio and the finest pieces are dated from 1519 to 1530. These splendid wares have been copied in modern times, especially in Italy, and with some success; but they have always obtained very high prices. Fine ancient pieces bring from one thou- sand to ten thousand dollars for a single piece, the rate being governed mainly by the complex character of the design and the brilliancy of color. The term majolica is used by modern manufac- turers for glazed hard pottery intended for use in decorative architecture for ganlen seats and outdoor work generally. This ware is not often of much artistic merit. The forms are inferior and the colors are limited to those which will bear the greatest heat of the furnace, and which are therefore very resistant to external influ- ences. In fact, for this purpose stoneware with glazes especially prepared for it is found to be a better material. See Stoxew.re. Consult: Darcel, Recueil des fa'ienees italiennes (Paris, 1809) ; Drur' and Fortnum, A Descriptive Cata- logue of the Maiolica, etc.. in the South Kensing- ton Museum (London, 1873) ; Bsckwith, Majolica and Fayenee, Italian. Siciliaat, Majorcan. His- pano-Moresque, and Persian (Xew York, 1877) ; Meuer, Italienische Majolikaflicsscn (Berlin, 1880) : Malajola, Memorie storichc sulle maio- liche di Faenza (Bologna, 1880) ; Argnani, Le eeramiche e maiohiche faentine (Faenza, 1889) ; Molinier, La ceramique italienne au quatorziimc Steele (Paris, 1899); and the authorities re- ferred to under F.^ience. Very beautiful single examples are given in chroniolitliography in Labarte, Histoire des arts induslrirls (2d ed., Paris, 1872-75), and in the Spitzer Collection, edition in six folio volumes (Paris, 1890-92). See Stoxew.re. MAJOR (Lat.. greater). -A name applied to the predicate of a logical conclusion. When this, which is known as the major term, is combined with the connecting or middle term, it forms the major premise of a syllogism (q.v.). MAJOR (Lat. major, greater). The rank next above a captain, and below a lieutenant-