Sir Francis Seymour Haden at 63

The subject of this mezzotint is the eminent self-taught etcher and collector Francis Seymour Haden (1818–1910) who, on 31 July 1880, founded the Society of Painter-Etchers at his home at 38 Hertford Street, Mayfair, London. A champion of etching as an original and creative art form (rather than as a simply reproductive medium), Haden is credited with spearheading what became known as the ‘Etching Revival’ in Britain.

The author of the mezzotint is Alphonse Legros, a French-born artist and fellow pioneer of etching. The two men likely met through a mutual friend, the American-born etcher, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903). Haden was married to Whistler’s half-sister, Dasha. Legros was a co-founder of Haden’s society and was one of the group’s six elected Fellows.

Legros is associated with a dark mode of French realism, which makes much of simplified classical forms emerging from a gloomy darkness. In this portrait, he shows his friend Haden in profile, with deep shadows falling over his eyes and cheeks, rendering him at once monumental and mysterious. Legros uses the tonal range of mezzotint to produce strong contrasts of texture and tone. In this case the dense softness of Haden’s velvet jacket contrasts with the insubstantial softness of his hair, seemingly ruffled by light. The highly realistic modelling of Haden’s aging flesh recalls Legros’s other notable talent, as a sculptor of profile medallions.

Haden, who was also a successful surgeon, was knighted in 1894 for his contributions to the arts. He was much depicted by fellow artists, who feted him but also held him in nervous awe. The painter George Percy Jacomb-Hood admired Haden’s ‘fine head’ and ‘deep-set eyes with rather drooping lids, a prominent and determined nose, with firm-set mouth’ but noted that he was ‘a man not easily argued with or turned from his purpose.’ 1

1. G.P. Jacomb-Hood, With Brush and Pencil, J. Murray, London, 1925, p 50.

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