Sir Francis Seymour Haden, R.A.

Shere Mill Pond

1860

Wareham Bridge Medium Drypoint Year of Work 1877-1877 Image Size: approx. 6 in.; Width 8.9 in. / Height 15.2 cm.; Width 22.7 cm. Sir Francis Seymour Haden (16 September 1818 - 1 June 1910), was an English surgeon, best known as an etcher. He was born in London, his father, Charles Thomas Haden, being a well-known doctor and lover of music. He was educated at Derby School, Christ's Hospital, and University College, London, and also studied at the Sorbonne, Paris, where he took his degree in 1840. He was admitted as a member of the College of Surgeons in London in 1842. In 1843-1844, with his friends Duval, Le Cannes and Colonel Guibout, he travelled in Italy and made his first sketches from nature. Haden attended no art school and had no art teachers, but between 1845 and 1848 he studied portfolios of prints belonging to a second-hand dealer named Love, who had a shop in Bunhill Row, the old Quaker quarter of London. Arranging the prints in chronological order, he studied the works of the great original engravers, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden and Rembrandt. These studies, besides influencing his original work, led to his important monograph on the etched work of Rembrandt. By lecture and book, and with the aid of the memorable exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1877, he tried to give a true reflection of Rembrandt's work, giving a nobler idea of the master's mind by taking away from the list of his works many dull and unseemly plates that had long been included in the lists. His reasons were founded upon the results of a study of the master's works in chronological order, and are clearly expressed in his monograph, The Etched Work of Rembrandt critically reconsidered, privately printed in 1877, and in The Etched Work of Rembrandt True and False (1895). Haden's printmaking was invigorated by his much younger brother-in-law, James Whistler, at the Haden home in Sloane Street in 1855. A press was installed there and for a while Haden and Whistler collaborated on a series of etchings of the Thames. The relationship and project did not last. Haden followed the art of original etching with such vigour that he became not only the foremost British exponent of that art but brought about its revival in England. His strenuous efforts and perseverance, aided by the secretarial ability of Sir WR Drake, resulted in the foundation of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. As president he ruled the society with a strong hand from its first beginnings in 1880. Notwithstanding his study of the old masters of his art, Haden's own plates were very individual, and are particularly noticeable for a fine original treatment of landscape subjects, free and open in line, clear and well divided in mass, and full of a noble and dignified style of his own. Even when working from a picture his personality dominates the plate, as for example in the large plate he etched after J.M.W. Turner's "Calais Pier," which is a classical example of what interpretative work can do in black and white. Of his original plates, more than 250 in number, one of the most notable was the large "Breaking up of the Agamemnon." An early plate, rare and most beautiful, is "Thames Fisherman". "Mytton Hall" is broad in treatment, and a fine rendering of a shady avenue of yew trees leading to an old manor-house in sunlight. "Sub Tegmine" was etched in Greenwich Park in 1859; and "Early Morning--Richmond", full of the poetry and freshness of the hour, was done, according to Haden, actually at sunrise. One of the rarest and most beautiful of his plates is "A By-Road in Tipperary"; "Combe Bottom" is another; and "Shere Mill Pond" (both the small study and the larger plate), "Sunset in Ireland," "Penton Hook," "Grim Spain" and "Evening Fishing, Longparish," are also notable examples of his genius. A catalogue of his works was begun by Sir William Drake and completed by Harrington in 1880. During later years Haden began to practise the sister art...

George W. Drew (1875-1968) "Springtime at the Farm" Oil on Canvas 24 x 36 inches (site) 31.5 x 43.25 (framed) George W. Drew was born 21 December 1875 in Massachusetts. He was a member of the Independent Artists Association. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design and they have him recorded as living at 745 Columbus Ave., N.Y. in the year 1898. He also exhibited at the Allied Artists of America, which was established in 1914, Salons of America, N.Y. State Fair, Newark State Fair, Newark Museum and New York Museum of Science & Industry. Although there is little known about the personal life of George W. Drew, his paintings appear on the art market quite often. It is obvious that his work has always been well received because of the numerous exhibitions he has participated in. He is known for his rustic luminous depictions of the Nineteenth Century American Landscape. Like many of the Hudson River Painters...

Seymour Haden (1818-1910), Shere Mill Pond II (Large Plate), etching and drypoint, 1860, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower right]. Schneiderman 37, sixth state (of 9). In generally good condition (see note below) with margins, on a cream/ivory laid paper, 7 x 13 1/2, the sheet 8 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches. A very good impression, with rich burr especially in the reeds toward the right. Provenance: Frederick Keppel and Co., New York, NY. Illustrated: Guichard, British...

Medium: original etching. This impression on laid paper was printed in 1883 and published in Boston by Estes and Lauriat. This composition is also called "July". Plate size: 4 1/4 x ...