The Mouth of a Brook, No. 1

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 foliage on a river bank.
"The best piece of foliage work, I think I have ever done. Like others of the earlier plates, however, it was laid aside after four impressions had been printed and when taken up again was past recovery from odixation. Plate destroyed after six impressions. A proof brought recently at auction 28 guineas-bought, I think, by Sir William Drake.' [Seymour Hayden citation]. The scene is possibly one of the many brooks that flow into the Multeen River from the higher lands on the west side of Hawarden's estate.
State II (Db,Hb).The plate, heavily damaged by oxidation, was cut down on the right and left and now measures 152 x 86mm."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 93]
"Trial Proofs: (b) The plate is cut down on both sides, the centre portion, measuring 3 3/8 in. w., 6 in.h., only being left. About six impressions. Coll. H. Exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1861."
[Source: Harrington, p. 13]