Group at Bonaly Tower
David Octavius Hill
British, 1802–1870
Robert Adamson
British, 1821–1848
1840
A 1840 carbon print photograph of a carefully staged group at Bonaly Tower in which Hill sought to translate the compositional and narrative qualities of painting into the new medium of photography.
What strikes you is the tableau-like stillness—people posed like figures in a domestic painting, rendered in soft sepia tones and gentle focus against the stone steps and doorway.
An early example of photographic portraiture that helped demonstrate photography’s capacity to rival painting for composition and storytelling while promoting more permanent processes like the carbon print for documentary and artistic use.
Medium
Carbon print
Dimensions
6 × 8" (15.3 × 20.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Warner Communications, Inc.
Accession
1151.1979
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
