Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1890 - 1897

This is a letter written in French, penned by Sir Francis Seymour Haden in England in 1890. He was writing to Philip Zilcken. You might ask why a letter is displayed in an art museum. Well, Haden was not just anyone. He was a prominent surgeon who became a central figure in the etching revival. This was a movement to promote original etching as a fine art, as opposed to its commercial use in reproduction. He founded the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, now the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. What better way to understand the institutions of art than by looking at the correspondence of the artists who created them? Letters like this are important resources. They reveal networks of artists and the infrastructure of art in its social context. The meaning of this letter as an artwork is contingent on understanding this history.