Early Morning, Richmond Park (Une Terrasse, dans le Parc de Richmond)

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 Richmond Park, trees at right, landscape across left.
'State III (D2, H2). Published in Études à l'eau-forte (N. X). The foul-biting on the left has been burnished. The path on the right has been changed; a sun now rises at left center and a small bird at center.The previous inscription (1.1) has been replaced by 'The lark at heaven's gate sings.' 'To Dasha' appears on one of the tree trunks to the right. Impressions vary slightly in terms of the amount of drypoint work on the foliage of the tree near the center and upper right of the plate where some of the fainter lines wear.'
[Source: Schneiderman, p. 89]
'Published States: Second.-The plate is cleaned. "To Dasha" appears on one of the tree trunks to the right, and the signature is replaced by "The lark at heaven's gate sings." Impressions vary slightly as regards the amount of dry-point work on the foliage of the trees near the centre of the plate. Published in Études à l'eau-forte (No. X). Actually etched at sunrise.'
[Source: Harrington, p.12]