A Sunset in Ireland
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 Dundrum or Multeen river in Tipperary at center, flowing through the estate of Viscount of Hawarden, viewed from the east bank.
"Published States: Second.-Resembles the First, but more work on the left bank, and the signature for a fourth time is re-written in almost vertical characters, and the date '1863'. Published in varying states in Études à l'eau-forte (No. XV.), under the title of 'A Sunset in Tipperary.'"
[Source: Harrington, p. 26]
"State XIII (D2,H2). The work in the lower left including the signature, and the work in the foreground water, burnished out, but the heavy drypoint work on states X, XI, and XII (?) faintly visible under the new work as the bank again curves into the lower left. Additional shading before the bank at the center which now meets the overhanging foliage. Additional oblique parallel lines at lower right. Looping strokes added to the sky at upper right, and some impressions have a scratch in the sky at upper right which extends obliquely downward (approx. 36 mm.). The signature and date reinserted 'Seymour Haden, 1863' (D,l.l.)."
[Schneiderman, p. 134-5]
View of Dundrum or Multeen river in Tipperary at center, flowing through the estate of Viscount of Hawarden, viewed from the east bank.
"Published States: Second.-Resembles the First, but more work on the left bank, and the signature for a fourth time is re-written in almost vertical characters, and the date '1863'. Published in varying states in Études à l'eau-forte (No. XV.), under the title of 'A Sunset in Tipperary.'"
[Source: Harrington, p. 26]
"State XIII (D2,H2). The work in the lower left including the signature, and the work in the foreground water, burnished out, but the heavy drypoint work on states X, XI, and XII (?) faintly visible under the new work as the bank again curves into the lower left. Additional shading before the bank at the center which now meets the overhanging foliage. Additional oblique parallel lines at lower right. Looping strokes added to the sky at upper right, and some impressions have a scratch in the sky at upper right which extends obliquely downward (approx. 36 mm.). The signature and date reinserted 'Seymour Haden, 1863' (D,l.l.)."
[Schneiderman, p. 134-5]
Artwork Details
- Title: A Sunset in Ireland
- Artist: Sir Francis Seymour Haden (British, London 1818–1910 Bramdean, Hampshire)
- Date: 1863
- Medium: Drypoint; second state of two (Harrington); thirteenth state of fourteen (Schneiderman)
- Dimensions: Sheet: 8 7/8 in. × 12 in. (22.5 × 30.5 cm)
Plate: 5 7/16 × 8 7/16 in. (13.8 × 21.5 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Bequest of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1966
- Object Number: 67.630.63
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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