Twickenham Church
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."
In the background, Twickenham church and town, seen through trees; in the foreground, to left, a bushy river bank and a figure seated, facing back.
"First.-With the additional dry-point lines. Published in the Porfolio, 1872, p. 17"
[Source: Harrington, p. 52]
"Twickenham is in Middlesex, on the North Bank of the Thames.
State IV (D1,H1). Printed by F. Goulding for publication in Hamerton's The Portfolio, III (1872), 117. Drypoint work in the foreground water and marsh, on the dog and its reflection, and additional shading in trees and bushes. There are also oblique lines added in the trees in upper left. During the printing the drypoint wears."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 215]
