Library Item

3408

Lady Eastlake

A seated woman wearing a dress and with a shawl on her head.

1845

21.1 x 15.8 cm

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Lady Elizabeth Eastlake (nee Rigby) is the subject of several of Hill and Adamson's photographic portraits. She came to Edinburgh with her family in 1842, aged 32. She was by this stage a published journalist and author, and a keen artist. Her intellectual credentials afforded her access to the same social circles as D. O. Hill, and, prompted presumably by her interest in art, she agreed to sit for him. She left Edinburgh for London in 1849 following her marriage to Charles Lock Eastlake. Her involvement with 19th century photography did not end here however. Her husband became the first president of the Royal Photographic Society in 1853. She continued to write professionally, and in 1857 her article on the history of photography and its relationship with art was published in the Quarterly Review. A Hill and Adamson portrait of Lady Eastlake was amongst those shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and drew the attention of the future photography enthusiast Prince Albert.