Dr. Alexander Monro
- Robert Adamson, Scottish, 1821-1848
- Born: St. Andrews, Scotland
- Work Locations: Edinburgh, Scotland
- David Octavius Hill, Scottish, 1802-1848
- Born: Perth, Scotland
- Work Locations: Edinburgh, Scotland
- James Craig Annan, British, Scottish, 1864-1946
- Born: Hamilton, Scotland
David Octavius Hill was commissioned to paint a panoramic group portrait of the 450-member Disruption Assembly of 1843 that led to the founding of the Free Church of Scotland. To make preliminary studies of each of the “Disruption Worthies,” he collaborated with Edinburgh photographer Robert Adamson on a series of individual portraits.
Years before there were glass or film negatives, Hill and Adamson used a technique known as calotype—the first process that allowed multiple copies from a single photographic original. Calotypes often have a rough appearance because the uneven texture of the paper used as the negative blocked fine detail and left shadows in the prints. Calotype’s inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot, described Adamson’s use of the effect as “Rembrandtish.”
Hill and Adamson calotype prints are extremely rare; this later photogravure reproduction—an ink-on-paper aquatint made by copying an early print onto a copper printing plate—was created by James Craig Annan for the journal Camera Work in 1905.
- "Photography & Vision: The Influence of Joyce and Ted Strauss"—Denver Art Museum, 6/8/2014 - 1/25/2015
