Battersea Bridge
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 Etching Revival, a movement 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."
This night scene shows the Thames in moonlight with Battersea Bridge in the distance and sailboats on the river. Harrington's catalogue describes it as a first state with "the bur in the hoisted sail and the reflections...removed, and a few lines of shading...added above the signature on the right." [p. 66] Schneiderman more recently designates it as state four of seven, with "a few drypoint lines of shading...added to the left of the signature [and] light additional drypoint work in the sky." [p. 257]
This night scene shows the Thames in moonlight with Battersea Bridge in the distance and sailboats on the river. Harrington's catalogue describes it as a first state with "the bur in the hoisted sail and the reflections...removed, and a few lines of shading...added above the signature on the right." [p. 66] Schneiderman more recently designates it as state four of seven, with "a few drypoint lines of shading...added to the left of the signature [and] light additional drypoint work in the sky." [p. 257]
Artwork Details
- Title: Battersea Bridge
- Artist: Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, London 1818–1910 Bramdean, Hampshire)
- Date: 1865
- Medium: Etching and drypoint; first state of three (Harrington); fourth state of seven (Schneiderman)
- Dimensions: Sheet: 8 1/16 × 11 1/8 in. (20.4 × 28.2 cm)
Plate: 6 15/16 × 9 15/16 in. (17.6 × 25.3 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of William Loring Andrews, 1883, transferred from the Library
- Object Number: 83.1.45
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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