Francis Seymour Haden

He was educated at Derby School, Christ's Hospital, and University College, London, and also studied at the Sorbonne, Paris, where he took his degree in 1840.

[3] In 1843–44, with his friends Duval, Le Cannes and Colonel Guibout, he travelled to Italy and made his first sketches and six etchings from nature.

Arranging the prints in chronological order, he studied in particular, the works of the great original engravers, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden and Rembrandt.

He expresses the maximum by means of the minimum to achieve the essence of his subject matter: what Haden himself called "the labour of omission".

"As PRE," Frederick Keppel, author and print collector wrote: "Sir Francis Seymour Haden did great work in maintaining sound doctrine in etching.

In fact, as regarding the RE Members, "he ruled them with a rod of iron," However, "membership was eagerly sought for – so much that many famous et hers weren't never elected though they thrived hard to be.

Mytton Hall is broad in treatment, and a fine rendering of a shady avenue of yew trees leading to an old manor-house (now a hotel in Lancashire) in September sunlight.

Kenneth Guichard writes in British Etchers 1850-1950 published in London, 1977: ‘Sunset in Ireland must be one of the greatest prints ever produced in etching, one can feel the dew beginning at the end of a balmy evening in Tipperary.” [4] This is fortified in Raymond Lister and Robin Garton’s book, Great Images of Printmaking in 1978: ‘1863 was a sublime year for Haden in printmaking.

During later years also Haden began to practise mezzotint engraving, with a measure of the same success that he had already achieved in pure etching and in drypoint.

His mezzotints include An Early Riser, a stag seen through the morning mists, Grayling Fishing and A Salmon Pool on the Spey.

[3] Haden's studies of Rembrandt, besides influencing his original work, led to his important monograph on the Dutch artist's etchings.

[4] Through books and lectures, and with the aid of an exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1877, he tried to give a true reflection of Rembrandt's work,[3] excluding from his oeuvre a large number of plates previously attributed to him.

A 346 page catalogue/book, written by Edward Twohig RE and published by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in April 2018, comprehensively mirrors Haden's achievements and influence.