Getty Museum

[Sheriff Spiers]

Date

1843–1847

Medium

Salted paper print from a paper negative

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

> Although Hill and Adamson (David Octavius Hill [1802-70] and Robert Adamson [1821-48]) advertised for sitters for the [Disruption Picture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruption_of_1843) until 1846, Hill's initial enthusiasm for the work waned somewhat as he became more and more involved with photography as an independent form of expression. While the partnership's choice of subject matter expanded, individuals connected with the Free Church of Scotland continued to pose in front of the camera at Rock House, Hill and Adamson’s residence. > > Graham Spiers (1797-1847) was sheriff of Midlothian and a leading Free Churchman. He described the dissension within the Church of Scotland as an issue of democracy. Also a prison reformer, Spiers served as a member of the General Board of Prisons in Scotland and as chairman of Edinburgh Prison. > > In this calotype Spiers looks appropriately serious. He emerges from the broad, dark mass of the background, the main source of light falling on his hands, which clasp a book. The light also catches the tablecloth, whose herringbone pattern is clearly visible. > > Anne M. Lyden. *Hill and Adamson*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), 62. ©1999, J. Paul Getty Museum.

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