The Village Ford

Francis Seymour Haden

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 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 Abbot 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.