Rembrandt print connoisseurship,

Abstract

Sir Francis Seymour Haden was a physician, etcher, and a collector and connoisseur of Rembrandt etchings. He was also one of the leading British proponents of the etching revival of the nineteenth century. His own aesthetic preferences for etching were consonant with what he understood to be the best Rembrandt etchings, with an emphasis on seeming spontaneity, quick execution, and the promotion of richly individuated impressions through drypoint and plate tone. In an 1877 exhibition, and in writings into the 1890s, he applied this standard to the study of the etchings then attributed to Rembrandt, and made controversial decisions about attributions, challenging some long-held beliefs of Rembrandt print connoisseurs. While Haden’s insistence on studying the etchings in a chronological sequence would prove influential, his status as an amateur rather than an academic or museum professional, and his intemperate language directed towards other scholars, undermined the acceptance of his ideas.