Master Hope Finlay
David Octavius Hill
British, 1802–1870
Robert Adamson
British, 1821–1848
c. 1841-48
A calotype portrait of a young boy, Master Hope Finlay, posed asleep in the grass to show that photography could convey intimate, painterly character rather than just documentary detail.
At first glance you notice the boy’s peaceful face and checkered dress set into a soft, grainy, sepia field where diffuse light and texture replace crisp contours, like a memory rendered in silvered paper.
An early work from Hill’s calotype practice that helped establish photography as an expressive art by translating compositional and emotional concerns from painting into the new medium’s warm, textural look.
Medium
Calotype
Dimensions
5 7/8 × 8 1/16" (15.0 × 20.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Warner Communications, Inc.
Accession
1148.1979
Palette
Exhibitions
