Cleveland Museum of Art

Scots Guards at Edinburgh Castle

David Octavius Hill

Date

1846

Medium

salted paper print from calotype negative

Culture

England, 19th century

Department

Photography

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Painted group portraits required each individual to sit for the artist, whereas the camera captured a detailed likeness of each face at once. Photography became an incredibly useful tool for artists tasked with producing group portraits. It was Hill’s desire to paint a contemporary historical event requiring the accurate depiction of more than 450 ministers that led him to contact Adamson, who had just become Edinburgh’s first professional photographer making paper prints. This portrait shows members of the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot.

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