The Tank, Cintra

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 stone terrace and a high wall at right; a pool at right with two men bathing; large gourds dry on the low walls of the terrace and pool.
"State I (Da, I impression; Ha). A large stone terrace before a high wall; to the right a stone- walled pool; in the distance a landscape. Large gourds dry on the low walls of the terrace and pool. One man is bathing, another sits on the low wall at the right and a third looks over the high wall. With the signature and date 'Seymour Haden 1877' (E, l.l.)."
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 343]
"Trial Proofs: (a) Two men are bathing in the tank. 'Seymour Haden 1877.' Two or three impressions. Coll. H. (a counter-proof)."
[Source: Harrington, p. 96]