[Officer of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders Reading to the Troops, Edinburgh Castle]

David Octavius Hill|Robert Adamson|Hill and Adamson

April 9, 1846 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

On occasion Hill and Adamson ventured into full-blown genre, costuming and staging literary scenes reminiscent of popular tableaux vivants, but in other cases such as this, the artists found authentically engaging subjects in contemporary life. This photograph may have served as a study for Hill's painting Edinburgh, Old and New, but it is also an affecting photograph in its own right, a peek between the castle cannons at the elite group of soldiers, seemingly unaware of the camera as they concentrate on the orders of their seated sergeant. Their slight movement enlivens the scene and gives a sense of immediacy, while the bearskin hats, elaborate military coats, sporrans, and argyle socks provide a lush and lively pattern of tone and texture for the eye.

Artist

David Octavius Hill|Robert Adamson|Hill and Adamson

Date

April 9, 1846

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and Harriette and Noel Levine Gifts, 1997