The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Scots Guards at Edinburgh Castle

1846

David Octavius Hill

(British, 1802–1870)

and Robert Adamson

(British, 1821–1848)
England, 19th century
salted paper print from calotype negative
Image: 14 x 19.5 cm (5 1/2 x 7 11/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1987.17
Location: Not on view

Description

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.
  • David Octavius Hill
    Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
    David Octavius Hill; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
  • Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1987." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (1988): 30-71. p. 67, no. 64 25160017
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 196
    Tannenbaum, Barbara. "Cheating Death: A look at the first 50 years of portrait photography.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 5 (September/October 2016): 8-9. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 8 archive.org
  • Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017).
    CMA, July 10 - August 19, 1990: "The Camera," Classroom Level, no exhibition catalogue.
    The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=Scots Guards at Edinburgh Castle|url=false|author=David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson|year=1846|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.17