The members often had to complain of the masterful ways of their president; he ruled them with a rod of iron, but still the malcontents were forced to endure it,—well knowing that no other man could give to the Society the prestige and authority that Seymour Haden gave to it.
In all other art exhibitions a good thing, done by an outsider, is accepted and welcomed, but the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers exhibits nothing except the work of its own members.
We have seen that Sir Seymour Haden, in spite of his good qualities—and his great qualities—was a man of a domineering and disputatious nature. I know of no figure in dramatic literature whom he resembled so closely as Sheridan’s Sir Anthony Absolute. Both of these Sirs were of a violent and masterful temper, and yet both of them were good men.
Haden. Out of Study Window
Etched from an upper window in Mr. Haden’s house in Sloane Street. In the mid-distance is the suburb
of Brompton
Size of the original etching, 4¼ × 10¼ inches
Haden. Thomas Haden of Derby
“Thomas Haden of Derby, my grandfather, was, under a polished exterior, one of the most determined men I have ever known, and one of the bravest. He would have made a hero of romance if he had had the chance. At the age of eighty-five he defended his home against the whole mob of Derby, keeping them at bay all night.” Seymour Haden.