Scottish Monk

David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were pioneering Scottish photographers. Hill, a painter, lithographer, and activist, is best remembered for his massive painting of the Disruption of 1843, a protest during which more than 450 ministers and lay people left an assembly of the Church of Scotland to found the Free Church of Scotland. With Adamson’s assistance, Hill photographed hundreds of those present at the Disruption and used the photos as references for his painting, an early example of this method. Adamson, an engineer, was one of the first producers of calotype photography in Scotland.

This print on salted paper depicts an unknown man in monk’s clothing, possibly William Leighton Leitch (1804–1883), who was Drawing Master to Queen Victoria's family. The process of producing prints on salted paper from a calotype negative (made from paper coated with silver iodide)—the most popular method of the era—was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1841. Adamson’s collaborations with Hill were celebrated, though he suffered an untimely death at the age of 26.