The Herd

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."
This print shows lush trees framing a field below a castle atop a distant hill. The herd of deer mentioned in the title are tiny distant forms resting on the grass. This version of the print was published inBurty's "Sonnets et Eaux-fortes" and both Harrington and Schneiderman note that the distance has been re-etched.