Breaking up of the "Agamemnon," No. I
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 ship in the process of being dismantled , moored to a buoy in the Thames oposite Greenwich; a small figure fishes from the stern of the ship. There are several other ships, two smaller rwoboats at center.
"Trial Proofs: (a) The helmet of the figurehead is insufficiently expressed, the mizzen0mast stands alone, and the ensign over the stern is white. 'Seymour Haden 1870'"
[Source: Harrington, p. 71]
" The Agamemnon, the keel of which was laid in 1849, launched in 1852, was one of the last wooden-hulled warships built in England. This 91-gun ship served as the flagship in many naval battles and, in 1857, was a participant in the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable. She is shown here moored at the Naval Arsenal at Deptford for demolition. At her left, before the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, is the Dreadnoght, an ancient man-of-war that served at the battle of Trafalgar; anchored in the Thames since 1831, she served as a hostpital ship for invalid mariners.
State II (Ha). The plume of the helmet of the ship's figurehead has been burnished out."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 237]
View of a ship in the process of being dismantled , moored to a buoy in the Thames oposite Greenwich; a small figure fishes from the stern of the ship. There are several other ships, two smaller rwoboats at center.
"Trial Proofs: (a) The helmet of the figurehead is insufficiently expressed, the mizzen0mast stands alone, and the ensign over the stern is white. 'Seymour Haden 1870'"
[Source: Harrington, p. 71]
" The Agamemnon, the keel of which was laid in 1849, launched in 1852, was one of the last wooden-hulled warships built in England. This 91-gun ship served as the flagship in many naval battles and, in 1857, was a participant in the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable. She is shown here moored at the Naval Arsenal at Deptford for demolition. At her left, before the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, is the Dreadnoght, an ancient man-of-war that served at the battle of Trafalgar; anchored in the Thames since 1831, she served as a hostpital ship for invalid mariners.
State II (Ha). The plume of the helmet of the ship's figurehead has been burnished out."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 237]
Artwork Details
- Title: Breaking up of the "Agamemnon," No. I
- Artist: Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, London 1818–1910 Bramdean, Hampshire)
- Date: 1870
- Medium: Etching and drypoint (counterproof); trial proof a (Harrington); second state of eleven (Schneiderman)
- Dimensions: Sheet: 8 11/16 × 17 1/16 in. (22 × 43.3 cm)
Plate: 7 11/16 × 16 5/16 in. (19.5 × 41.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
- Object Number: 17.3.607
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, London 1818–1910 Bramdean, Hampshire)
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