Launceston
Sir Francis Seymour Haden British
Not on view
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."
View of a castle and town on a hill in the distance; trees in foreground at left and at right.
"Published State: First.-Additional shading on the bushes to the right; and the castle, and the hill on which it stands, reduced in strength."
[Source: Harrington, p. 64]
"The scene is Launceston viewed from St. Stephen's Hill, north of town. Launceston Castle is medieval and was built in the early years of the Norman Conquest. The buildings shown in the valley are in the area known as Newport.
State II (H1). Additional work on bushes, the right foreground and at middle left foreground. A faint ground line has also been added."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 255]
