Haden, Seymour Francis (1818-1910; English)
12 etchings (1859-77)
Various sizes
Purchased, 1892 (advice of Hubert von Herkomer)
National Gallery of Victoria (p.190.1-1 to 9-1 and p.191.1-1 to 3-1)
[photo: Windmill Hill No.1 1877 (p.190.2-1)]
Haden, who had led a successful earlier career as a surgeon, took up etching seriously in his early 40s, at the suggestion of his younger brother-in-law, freshly returned to London from his success in Paris: see now Whistler Thames set (plates 1-16) {1892} NGV [ET].
Less brilliant than Whistler, alongside whom he first worked on plates of the Thames in 1859, Haden nevertheless played a key role in the etching revival in England in the second half of the 19th century, both as practitioner and collector-connoisseur.
In his later prints, he often preferred drypoint, drawing directly into the copper plate with a burin, rather than using acid to etch the line, taking particular inspiration from Rembrandt’s landscape prints.
These etchings were purchased from E.Deprez, the dealer who had recommended the Old Master prints bought the year before from Haden’s personal collection: see separate entries for Dürer, van Dyck and Rembrandt (and the general discussion of Herkomer’s role as advisor by Zdanowicz 1993).
The individual etchings bought in 1892 are as follows, listed in chronological order (NGV acc.nos. in square brackets; all are reproduced in the gallery’s online catalogue):
Early morning, Richmond Park (1859) [p.190.9-1]
Morning at Egham, Surrey 1859 [p.191.3-1] (reproduced above)
Kensington Gardens [smaller plate] 1860 [p.190.7-1]
Shere Mill Pond 1860 [p.190.8-1]
Sunset in Ireland 1863 [p.191.2-1]
Whistler’s house at Old Chelsea 1863 [p.190.4-1]
Little Calais Pier 1865 [p.190.1-1]
Sonning almshouses 1865 [p.190.5-1] (“trial proof”)
Sunset on the Thames 1865 [p.191.1-1]
Breaking up of the “Agamemnon” 1870/1886 [p.190.3-1]
The Little Boathouse 1877 [p.190.6-1]
Windmill Hill No.1 1877 [p.190.2-1]
Refs.
NGV 1894, pp.56-58 (II.Stawell Gallery, nos.79-90); NGV 1905, pp.70-71 (II.Stawell Gallery, nos.126-37) [prices paid ranged from £2/9 to £10/17]
See the NGV’s online catalogue, for full details of the gallery’s impressions (including references to modern catalogues by Schneiderman & others). See also Zdanowicz “Herkomer” (1993), and PF nos.2532-43