On the Test
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 the River Test near Romsey; sheep on bank of river at right; birds in sky at center; trees at left.
'The trees on the left have been reworked with drypoint and the cedar's shadows in the water are extended; the circle of weak biting in the water at lower left has been covered with horizontal and vertical strokes. Drypoint work on rushes in the foreground, the flock of sheep and the bridge. The signature rewritten and appears 'à double trait'.'
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 87]
'Published State: First.-The trees on the left are more worked upon, and the rushes in the foreground and the flock of sheep more defined. "Seymour Hayden" is re-written over the previous signature.'
[Source: Harrington, p. 11]
