The Inn, Purfleet

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."
A river landscape of the Thames by Purfleet with sail boats, steamboats and a row boat; two fishermen mending nets, standing on the river bank in the foreground, at right.
"Published States: Second.-The sitting figures mending their nets are now standing, and there is much alteration in the treatment of the shore and foreground. 'Seymour Haden' in left lower corner."
[Source: Harrington, p. 68]
"A scene on the left bank of the tidal waters of the lower Thames, some twelve miles east of London-at the western end of Essex, opposite Erith.
State X (D2, H2). Additional work on the ground in the middle distance. Previous inscription removed and replaced by Seymour Haden (E, l.l.)."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 261]