Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers

David Octavius Hill|Robert Adamson|Hill and Adamson

ca. 1843 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

In 1843, four hundred ministers of the Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh to sign the Deed of Demission, resigning their positions and privileges in order to establish the Free Church of Scotland. Inspired by the event, the painter Hill determined to create a large commemorative painting portraying everyone present at the signing. Realizing that the ministers would soon leave Edinburgh to return to their parishes throughout Scotland, Hill sought the aid of a local photographer, Robert Adamson, to create individual photographs of the ministers that could serve later as guides for the portraits in the painting. The dramatically lit and psychologically engaging portraits that this painter-and-photographer team produced far outshone Hill's enormous, tedious painting, in which the accumulation of faces diminished the power of each.

Artist

David Octavius Hill|Robert Adamson|Hill and Adamson

Date

ca. 1843

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and Warner Communication Inc. Purchase Fund, by exchange, 1997