Egham 1859 |
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Original etching with drypoint.
Titled by Haden in the plate.
Ref: Schneiderman 20 x/x; Harrington 15 iii/iii
S 170 x 240 mm; P & I 126 x 202 mm
SOLD
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Original Francis Seymour Haden etching with drypoint.
Very good, clear impression with strong contrast, as issued in Francis Seymour Haden's first publication Etudes a l'eau-forte.
Etched on the same day as Francis Seymour Haden's plate of Egham Lock, this view shows a stretch of the River Thames in Surrey, just to the west of London.
Unlike the mainstream works of other Victorian etchers, which were mostly narrative in subject and style, here we have a pure and naturalistic study of landscape, not intended as a decorative print. This approach was to have considerable influence and far reaching effects on the minds of other etchers working at the time, and it was for this approach that Francis Seymour Haden became established as a leading figure of the British Etching Revival.
No impressions of this work remained available through R. Gutekunst, the dealer who inherited the rights to sell all of Francis Seymour Haden's remaining prints upon his death. Gutekunst noted on the front of his catalogue in July 1911: "It may be useful to add that those impressions of Sir Seymour Haden's early and rare etchings, which were published in portfolio form in Paris in 1865-66, under the title "Etudes a l'eau forte" have, with the exception of one or two sets, never been signed in autograph by Sir Seymour, and do not, of course, bear any stamp of any kind."
At the time when this etching was produced, Haden had not adopted a formal practice of signing his proofs in pencil and, although he took to signing the majority of his prints in later years, there appears to have been little consistency to his approach. Many early working proofs and even excellent completed impressions remained unsigned, though they are often superior in quality to pencil signed examples from the same plates.
An impression of this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1860 under Francis Seymour Haden's pseudonym, H. Dean. Haden used this name in order to preserve his professional reputation as a surgeon.
On laid paper with margins, as issued. Very fine condition. |
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