18. Sir Francis Seymour Haden
(1818-1910)

Mytton Hall

(click on image to print)
Haden, Mytton Hall

Mytton Hall

Etching and drypoint, 1859, from Études à l’Eau-Forte, 123 x 262 mm., Harrington 19, Schneiderman 19 iii/v. Fine, rich impression on thin japan paper with good margins, signed in pencil. The Etching Revival began in Britain with Haden and his younger brother-in-law, the American-born Whistler. Though Haden made some early efforts at etching around 1844, he did not seriously take it up until about 1858, occasioned, no doubt, by Whistler, whose French Set was published that year. By the next year, though, he was busily at it, inspired by his studies of Rembrandt etchings. Haden’s true forte was country landscape and, especially, trees. Mytton Hall was an old mansion in Lancashire. Haden presents only the entrance to the hall, bordered by old trees superbly drawn and shaded. Not aspiring to anything beyond Haden’s real abilities, it remains among the best of his prints.