Print of the Day!! Wed, May 8, 2024 is by Sir Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910): "The Village Ford", intaglio, 1881, trial proof B.

Print of the Day!! Wednesday, May 8, 2024 is by British printmaker Sir Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910).

"The Village Ford" is an intaglio, an etching with drypoint, by British surgeon/printmaker Sir Francis Seymour Haden, (1818-1910) done in 1881. The platemark measures 7-1/16 x 11-9/16 inches. This impression is a trial state proof, pencil signed by the artist in the lower margin and is signed and dated in the plate in the lower right image. It is pencil annotated on the verso "Village Ford Trial B". It was printed by the artist? on a sheet of cream laid paper that measures 10-1/4 x 14-1/2 inches. This impression is state ii/v, before Haden trimmed the plate down on the left and added further background and a figure. References for this image is Schneidermann 202ii/v, Dodgson 211, and Harrington 216. Our inventory number for this etching is 16229. The price of this scarce etching by Francis Seymour Haden (1818 - 1910) is $900.00. Contact the gallery with any condition or other questions. Shipping costs will be discussed. California residents will have sales tax added. Out-of-state residents may be responsible for use tax, depending on state law.

After pulling a few proofs Haden cut down his plate for The Village Ford, reducing the image area at left. He kept working the plate and in the last (fifth) state a figure walks down the village road, a split rail fence touches the left edge as do the low buildings and surrounding trees. Drypoint lines create tall trees in the distance and faint clouds. It is a tranquil rural scene rendered in line and filled with light.

Sir Francis Seymour Haden, who signed his work "Seymour Haden", was born in Chelsea, London, England on September 16, 1818. Haden was an amateur printmaker in the true sense of the word. A surgeon by profession, he chose etching as a hobby, but soon developed his technique to a high artistic level. Haden was in the heart of the Etching Revival in England and was a founder of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (now the Royal Society of Painters-Printmakers) and helped popularize the medium of etching in England, France, and the United States.

Although Haden made his first etchings around 1845, it was not until twelve years later that he began to seriously create in the medium. At first, he worked closely with the great American-born artist James Abbott McNeil Whistler, his brother-in-law, but eventually, their relationship disintegrated as their aesthetics took divergent paths. Haden was at his best when producing romantic, serene landscapes in either pure etching or etching combined with drypoint or mezzotint.

The importance of line and light is pre-eminent in Haden's work and reflects the influence of earlier English artists of the Norwich school, as well as 17th century Dutch artists such as Rembrandt. Although Haden viewed etching as a spontaneous medium, many of his most important compositions were first worked out in preliminary drawings and progressed through several states. Recognition of his art came in the form of a knighthood, exhibitions, and the increased popularity of the etching medium to which he devoted his artistic life.

Haden's work is represented in the British Museum and the Tate, London; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the New York Public Library; the Huntington Library, Pasadena; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

To purchase this scarce intaglio, see other works, or read a biography for Francis Seymour Haden use this link: https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/artist/916/Haden/Francis

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