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David Octavius Hill

Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake), ca. 1845

Description

Maker

Title

Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake)

Year

ca. 1845

Medium

Salt print from paper negative

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Dimensions

Plate: 19.2 x 13.5 cm (7 9/16 x 5 5/16 inches)

Type

Credit

Jesse Metcalf Fund

Object Number

77.049

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Early Exposures

March 13 - July 19, 2015

Just a few years after the calotype (paper negative) was introduced, Robert Adamson and David Octavius Hill made these sophisticated examples. They used the characteristically soft texture created by the calotype process to capture the fleeting nature of human life, a recurring theme in their work.

The portrait of Elizabeth Rigby emphasizes the tension between a dark interior doorway and the natural outdoor light, with the sitter at the threshold. Rigby’s downcast eyes and crucifix stand in contrast to the carousing putti at her right. Her averted eyes may have resulted from technical rather than artistic concerns, given the exposure time of up to 30 seconds.

Image and Enterprise

February 4 - April 22, 2000

The salt print was a common method of creating a positive image from such a negative: here is seen Lady Eastlake, an artist and writer on photography. A salted piece of paper was exposed while in contact with the paper negative, fixing a positive image on the surface of the salted paper. This procedure enabled the making of unlimited prints from a single negative, although the quality of the prints gradually degraded as the print number increased.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake) with the accession number of 77.049. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.