Две нововенские рыбачки, возможно, миссис Элизабет (Джонстон) Холл справа

Национальная галерея Шотландии хранит одну из лучших в мире коллекций западного искусства от Средневековья до наших дней. Среди них - Национальная выставка шотландского искусства, которую мы с гордостью показываем в международном контексте. Привилегированное положение Шотландии в истории умеренности придает ей богатую фотографическую традицию. С самого начала существования среднего класса небольшие группы ученых и ученых развивали его технический и художественный потенциал. Одна из таких групп образовалась вокруг ученого-оптика сэра Дэвида Брюстера в Сент-Эндрюсе, а в 1843 году в Эдинбурге были основаны профессиональные студии, в том числе партнерство Роберта Хемсона и Дэвида Октавиуса Хилла. Начиная с середины 1850-х годов, технологические изменения способствовали резкому расширению фотографической деятельности, с крупными коммерческими операциями, организованными семьей Валентин в Данди и Джорджем Вашингтоном Уилсоном в Абердине.

Robert Adamson (1821-1848) was a Scottish chemist and pioneering photographer, best known for his collaboration with the artist David Octavius Hill in the early days of photography. Born on 26 April 1821 in St Andrews, Scotland, Adamson grew up in a family of shipowners. In 1843, Adamson met David Octavius Hill, a painter, and the two formed a partnership that would contribute significantly to the development of photography as an art form. Their collaboration began at a time when the calotype process, an early photographic technique, had just been introduced by William Henry Fox Talbot. The calotype process produced an image on paper coated with silver iodide, allowing multiple positive prints to be made from a single negative. Adamson and Hill set out to document various aspects of Scottish life and culture, including landscape, architecture and portraiture. They are particularly famous for their depictions of the people of Newhaven, a fishing village near Edinburgh. This work culminated in the production of a collection known as the 'Disruption of 1843', which captured scenes from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Tragically, Robert Adamson's career was cut short by his untimely death at the age of 26 in 1848. The exact cause of his death remains uncertain, but it is widely believed to have been related to the chemicals used in the photographic process, which were often toxic. Despite his short career, Adamson's contributions to the early development of photography, particularly through his collaboration with David Octavius Hill, have had a lasting impact on the history of the medium.