Egham Lock
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 Egham Lock on the river Thames; landscape with trees at left and right and background; river across foreground; opened lock gate in middle ground with shadows of gate reflected on river's surface; dark sky with sunlight coming through clouds at left.
"State VII (D3, H3). The plate mezzotinted and burnished, but the strong sun rays not yet burnished in." [Source: Schneiderman, p. 77]
"Published States: Third.- The plate mezzotinted and a few trial impressions taken in varying conditions." [Source: Harrington, p. 8]
