A Lady Reading

Seymour Haden was the unlikely combination of a surgeon and an etcher. Although he pursued a very successful medical career, he is mostly remembered for his etched work as well as for his writings on etching. He was one of a group of artists, including James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) and Alphonse Legros (1837–1911), whose passionate interest in the medium led to the so-called etching revival, a period that lasted well into the twentieth century. The extolling of etching for its inherent spontaneous qualities reached its pinnacle during this time. While the line of the etching needle, Haden wrote, was "free, expressive, full of vivacity," that of the burin was "cold, constrained, uninteresting," and "without identity."
Possibly sketched for Whistler (see inscription on verso).
Woman at left, Deborah Haden, viewed in profile reading a book; cup and saucer on a table at center in foreground; girl, Dasha Haden, seated at right with downcast eyes before a bowl and table lamp.
'The scene is the Haden's music room, and closely resembles Whistler's 'Reading by Lamplight' etched the same evening.
State VI (Hc): The plate extensively reworked with drypoint and the figure of Annie Haden has been drawn in. The shadows above and below Dasha and to the right and left of her torso are dark, as is her lap. Additional drypoint work on her face. The bowl is covered by drypoint work as well as the lower right corner, partially obscuring the signature.'
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 49]

'Trial Proof: (c) The bowl is partly covered by dry-point work, and the figure of a little girl, seated, is added on the right of the lamp.' [Source: Harrington, p. 4]