D. O. Hill

Category

Library Item

Item no

3952

Title

D. O. Hill

Description

A man is standing leaning against a stone wall with a door bell on it. He is wearing a morning coat and a cravat with a tie pin. He is carrying a stove pipe hat.

Artist / maker

Hill, David Octavius

Date

1845

Size

21 x 14.9 cm

Type

Salted paper print

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

David Octavius Hill was born in Perth in 1802, the son of a bookseller. From the age of 16 he studied at the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh, concentrating on painting and lithography. Early lithographs show scenes of Perthshire scenery and later landscape paintings relate to the life of Robert Burns. In 1843 he began working on a painting to commemorate the Disruption of the Church of Scotland including all the prominent figures. On the advice of Sir David Brewster, the physicist who had introduced the calotype to Scotland, he employed the young photographer Robert Adamson (1821-1848) to make studies. Their subsequent partnership lasted until Adamson's early death, producing nearly 3,000 calotype images, not only of prominent churchmen, but of artists and most notably the fisherwomen of Newhaven. In other respects Hill did much to support the arts in Scotland and on its foundation was the unpaid secretary of the Scottish Academy, established by the Royal Institution, to be known later as the Royal Scottish Academy.

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Clothing and dress > Accessories > Hats

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Neckties

People > Adults > Men

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