The Boat-House
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 a boathouse at Purfleet; boats in sea at left; boathouse at center; white horse standing to left of boathouse; trees at right; cloudy sky.
"State III (H1). A duck's head and breast inserted into the immediate foreground. The lower part of the sky is heavily shaded with oblique lines."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 297]
"Published States: First.-The lower part of the sky is heavily shaded with oblique lines. A few lines in the foreground have been removed, and a duck's head and breast are inserted towards the right."
[Source: Harrington, p. 78]
