David Octavius Hill
Professor Alexander Campbell Fraser, Rev. James Walker, Rev. Robert Taylor, Rev. John Murray, Rev. Dr William Welsh and Rev. Dr John Nelson
- Professor Alexander Campbell Fraser, Rev. James Walker, Rev. Robert Taylor, Rev. John Murray, Rev. Dr William Welsh and Rev. Dr John Nelson
Sheet: 6 1/4 × 8 5/16 in. (15.8 × 21.1 cm)
Explore Further
Although early paper photographs lacked the precision of daguerreotypes, many artists found their strong contrasts and grainy texture to have greater artistic effect. In four and a half years, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson produced nearly 3,000 images, the earliest substantial body of self-consciously artistic work in the new medium. Hill composed the pictures, posing sitters and putting them at ease; Adamson operated the camera and mastered the chemistry. Originally intended as studies for a painting by Hill, the team’s photographs of ministers of the Free Church of Scotland, as seen here, are works of art in their own right.
Provenance[Unidentified dealer, England]; [purchased by Serge Kakou, Paris, 2018]; purchased by MFAH, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, verso, bottom center: S
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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