David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1802–1870 and 1821–1848)

Portrait of Mrs. Rigby, 1844

The work of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson was an inspiration to Pictorialist photographers active in later decades. J. Craig Annan, who helped popularize the duo’s work by making and circulating photogravure reproductions, kept a print of this portrait on his mantel—writing in Camera Work that “there is no sweeter presentment of old age.”[1] This photograph is an original salt print, and the inscriptions indicate that it was printed while Hill and Adamson were still active.

Additional resources related to this object are to the right.

[1] J. Craig Annan, “David Octavius Hill RSA – 1802-1870,” Camera Work 11 (July 1905), p. 17.

Related Glossary Pages

• Artists

  David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson

  One of the most important collaborations in the history of photography began when the Scottish read more

• Processes

  Salted Paper Print

  The earliest commonly used method for printing photographic images on paper, salt prints were employed read more

• Galleries

  Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession/291

  The Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession—later known as 291—began as a place to display and read more

• Journals

  Camera Work

  Stieglitz had edited two previous publications—The American Amateur Photographer and Camera Notes—before deciding in 1902 read more

• Themes

  Nineteenth Century

  In their quest to legitimate photography as a fine art, Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession read more

• Themes

  Pictorialism

  The international movement known as Pictorialism represented both a photographic aesthetic and a set of read more