Sir Francis Seymour Haden

1 portrait by William Rothenstein

Sir Francis Seymour Haden, by William Rothenstein, 1897 -NPG 3870 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir Francis Seymour Haden

by William Rothenstein
Lithographic chalk on lithographic paper, 1897
12 1/2 in. x 11 1/8 in. (317 mm x 283 mm) overall
NPG 3870

Inscriptionback to top

Red ink monogram within oval lower left corner of sheet: 'CLR'.

This portraitback to top

This drawing is one of three known studies of Haden by William Rothenstein. Its companion images are the lithographs NPG D3193 and NPG D35102. It was drawn in February 1897, in the sitter’s home in Hampshire.

In 1897 Rothenstein proposed to the publisher Grant Richards that he execute a sequence of portraits of eminent contemporaries, to be issued as lithographic prints in a part-work sold by subscription. Each of the 24 plates was accompanied by a biographical notice of the sitter and printed by lithographer Thomas Robert Way. The deadline for completion of the project was agreed for the end of the year and the prints began appearing in the summer, being then issued as a bound volume in 1898, entitled English Portraits: A Series of Lithographed Drawings by Will Rothenstein. The choice of sitters was made by Rothenstein, who later wrote, ‘I began working on these at once, at first drawing people I already knew, at the same time getting introductions to others whom so far I had not met.’ [1]

Haden was one of the first to be approached. According to Rothenstein

[he] at once replied, asking me down to stay at Woodcote Manor, a beautiful Tudor House, kept in marvellous order. I had never seen such shining floors, such polished panelling and furniture, bright brass handles and sparkling silver. Haden must surely have been something of a tyrant. He was proud of his position as President of the Painter-Etchers; and if he had a marked sense of his own importance, it must be said that no one, not even Whistler, had a greater European reputation as an etcher than Haden. His word was law. [2]

Although Rothenstein was not a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (RE), he may have been aware of its internal tensions. Towards the end of 1897 Haden’s dominance over the society was challenged by other members who voted to create a sub-committee to relieve Haden of ‘unnecessary fatigue’. He then complained that his right to run the daily business of the RE had ‘for the first time in the course of the last year been called in question and on more than one occasion openly defied’. He demanded that the council confirm his ‘disciplinary and administrative power’, stating that ‘during a year of exceptional disorder he has on one notable occasion had to employ exceptional means to correct it’. [3] In each of Rothenstein’s three known studies, Haden is drawn from the left, in a manner that emphasizes his profile and especially his prominent nose. The slightest of the images (NPG D35102|mw191986) shows him dozing in a high upholstered chair, his left arm relaxed. The other two depict him seated at a desk, holding an etching tool in both hands. The present drawing is from a viewpoint to the side or a little behind Haden’s shoulder, showing the bulky frame of his back and the slightly stooping posture of a heavy, elderly man. Some elements, especially the eye, are only sketchily drawn. The medium is lithographic chalk or crayon on very smooth lithographic paper, deploying a fine, pencil-like line, and the pose appears to have been then adapted for the third (and finally selected) image, where the viewpoint shifts a little forwards, showing part of Haden’s right arm and giving him a less hunched posture. It also endows him with a graver, more assured air, whereas the present drawing conveys a somewhat anxious mood. This is possibly owing to the fact that by this date Haden had virtually given up serious etching and the images showing him as if at work on a plate must have been at least partly a pose, despite Rothenstein’s statement that he drew Haden ‘making a mezzotint’. The setting, with work-bench and sloping window, is not seen in the published image. Rothenstein noted that Haden’s work-room was ‘meticulously orderly’.

Rothenstein was aged 25, his sitter nearing 80. Owing to the quarrel between Haden and Whistler, the latter’s name was not mentioned in Haden’s presence, despite the fact that his wife was Whistler’s half-sister; according to Rothenstein, Lady Haden was gracious and dignified but ‘rather quiet and subdued in manner’. [4]

When the first seven portraits of his projected series were completed, Rothenstein wrote to Richards, saying, ‘I venture to suggest for the first part Haden and Hardy. Hardy is surely good enough to sell the number, and they are both good drawings.… Haden is an old man, and it would be graceful to lead off with him.’ [5] In the event the first portrait issued in English Portraits was that of jurist Sir Frederick Pollock (NPG D20934 and NPG D40299). Hardy’s was the second and Haden’s the third, appearing in August 1897. It (NPG D3193|mw37392}) was accompanied by the following text:

Sir Seymour Haden, F.R.C.S.
President of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers
One of the foremost of those who revived the art of Etching in France and in England, the founder and first President of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, a distinguished physician, himself the son of a physician, an expert on the etchings of Rembrandt and a great collector, an indefatigable controversialist, he enjoys as wide a reputation abroad as at home. He has had the privilege of seeing proofs of his plates fought over in the sale-room, a complete set of his etchings being as difficult of achievement as a set of Rembrandt’s. One of the most hospitable of men, he has been alike the friend and patron of many artists whose names are now written large on the roll of fame. He owns one of the most beautiful country houses in England, and was greatly admired by Edmond de Goncourt. [6]


While sitting, Haden’s manner had been cordial and he had urged Rothenstein to join the RE. But when the print was published, he wrote to complain that he had not been shown the portrait ‘which I allowed you to take of me, on conditions which your publisher, it seems, has taken upon himself to disregard. This is bad enough, but to add to it, a personal account of me, which I have also neither seen nor consented to, is inexcusable.’ [7] When Rothenstein wrote to defend himself, Haden slightly shifted his position to complain of the accompanying text. ‘I did not accuse you of not adhering to your engagement to me,’ he wrote. ‘I expressed surprise at the high-handed liberty taken by your publisher with my personality, as well as the impropriety of not sending for my approval a copy of what he was saying about me.’ [8] He added, ‘May I advise you, if you expect to stand well with the world in general and your sitters in particular, to be a little more circumspect than you appear to be in such matters?’ [9] This, Rothenstein noted many years later, ‘was not very logical, nor very kind’. [10]

When English Portraits duly appeared in book form, ‘there was no great demand for them’, as Rothenstein wrote. ‘Only a proportion of the edition were bound up. Later, most of the remaining parts (they were first issued in paper covers, two at a time…) were destroyed in a fire at Leighton’s the binders.’ [11] He proceeded, however, to a new series, of younger contemporaries, which ‘was distinguished for one thing – no single copy sold’; [12] this was despite the fact that sitters included Aubrey Beardsley and W.B. Yeats. Meditating on the business of portraiture, Rothenstein declared that

the success of a portrait drawing depends on many fortuitous things, on the quality of paper and chalk, on the artist’s mood at the time, but mostly on the sitter. For the sitter helps to make or mar his own portrait; some, the moment they pose, excite one’s pencil; others paralyse the will; some again, cannot keep a pose, while others, especially old people, must be kept interested. [13]

He did not identify any individuals in these groups but went on to add that ‘talking while at work has spoilt many a drawing’. And he ended with thoughts on sitters’ reception of their likenesses:

Men, equally with women, wish to appear other than they are – the mirror won’t lie, but the artist may be persuaded; yet if he compromises over form, his drawing suffers. Englishmen especially seem ashamed of their features.… I have noticed too that men who affect to admire Holbein or Rembrandt are often shocked at a faithful presentment of themselves. [14]

Exhibited in 1925 and listed but not illustrated in Rothenstein 1926, [15] the drawing was acquired from the Rothenstein Memorial Trust in 1953. The sheet bears the monogram ‘CLR’ (as does NPG 3171), which is presumably that of Charles Lambert Rutherston (1866–1927), William Rothenstein’s elder brother, who entered their father’s business and ‘used his inherited wealth to create an impressive collection of modern, mostly, British art’[16] and also supported his two artist brothers. Charles’s second wife, owner of the Redfern Gallery in London, died in 1952 and it appears to have been after her death that the Memorial Trust disposed of this and possibly other remaining items in the collection.

The full list of sitters in English Portraits is as follows (listed alphabetically): Grant Allen, William Archer, Robert Bridges, Sidney Colvin, Walter Crane, Mandell Creighton, George Gissing, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, Francis Seymour Haden, Thomas Hardy, W.E. Henley, Henry Irving, Henry James, (William) Edward Hartpole Lecky, Alphonse Legros, (Marion Margaret) Violet Manners (née Lindsay), Duchess of Rutland, Alice Meynell, Arthur Wing Pinero, Frederick Pollock, Charles Ricketts with Charles Haslewood Shannon, John Singer Sargent, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Villiers Stanford and Ellen Terry. Loose prints for all but Creighton, Hardy, James, Pinero, Sargent, Ricketts and Shannon, Bernard Shaw and Terry are in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

Dr Jan Marsh

Footnotesback to top

1) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.295. The progress of this project is detailed in pp.295–308 and 327–31.
2) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.306.
3) Extract from paper tabled by F.S. Haden at the RE AGM, 31 Mar. 1898, quoted Hopkinson 1999, p.27. Haden was absent from the meeting and his demand was ignored.
4) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.307.
5) Letter from W. Rothenstein to G. Richards, n.d., quoted Speaight 1962, p.109.
6) Rothenstein 1898a, preceding plate IV.
7) Letter from F.S. Haden to W. Rothenstein, Aug. 1897, quoted Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.307.
8) Letter from F.S. Haden to W. Rothenstein, Aug. 1897, quoted Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.307.
9) Letter from F.S. Haden to W. Rothenstein, Aug. 1897, quoted Speaight 1962, p.112.
10) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.307.
11) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.327.
12) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.329.
13) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, p.330.
14) Rothenstein 1931–2, vol.1, pp.330–31.
15) Rothenstein 1926, p.13, no.103. The dimensions are given as 10 3/4 ins x 9 3/4 ins (273 x 248mm), which correspond to the image rather than sheet size. Our thanks to Alice Powell for ascertaining the exact medium of the work.
16) Martin 2004.

Physical descriptionback to top

Half-length, profile to left, seated at table with etching plates and tools.

Provenanceback to top

Probably Charles Lambert Rutherston (formerly Rothenstein); given by Rothenstein Memorial Trust, 1953.

Exhibitionsback to top

Portraits of the ’Nineties. Drawings by Professor William Rothenstein, Leicester Galleries, London, July 1925 (77, as ‘Sir F. Seymour Haden (Study for a lithograph) 1897’).

View all known portraits for Sir Francis Seymour Haden