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Master Miller

A work made of salted paper print.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of salted paper print.

Date:

1844

Artist:

David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802–1870) and
Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821–1848)

About this artwork

Coming from backgrounds in fine arts and chemistry, respectively, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson began their photographic collaboration in 1843. Hill wanted to produce a large history painting documenting the Disruption movement, which culminated in the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland. To document the more than 450 individuals who appear in the painting, Adamson made portraits of them with the calotype (paper negative) process, a technology that yielded prints rich in masses of form rather than sharp detail or tonal range. The pair made around 2,500 calotypes over the course of their remarkable five-year project, which went far beyond their initial goals before ending with Adamson’s early death. Although Jimmy Miller, the son of Professor James Miller, did not appear in the painting that Hill finally completed in 1866, his father and three other family members are identifiable subjects in the grand composition.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

David Octavius Hill

Title

Master Miller

Place

Scotland (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1844

Medium

Salted paper print

Dimensions

Image/paper: 20.4 × 15.4 cm (8 1/16 × 6 1/8 in.); Mount: 37.3 × 26.7 cm (14 11/16 × 10 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

The Mary and Leigh Block Endowment Fund

Reference Number

1983.799

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/100836/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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