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A warm brown portrait of a seated figure, eyes closed, with long hair holding a cross accompanied by a sculpture of two angels on the left.
A warm brown portrait of a seated figure, eyes closed, with long hair holding a cross accompanied by a sculpture of two angels on the left.
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  • A warm brown portrait of a seated figure, eyes closed, with long hair holding a cross accompanied by a sculpture of two angels on the left.
  • A warm brown portrait of a seated figure, eyes closed, with long hair holding a cross accompanied by a sculpture of two angels on the left.

David Octavius Hill

Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake)

Maker

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

Title

Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake)

Year

ca. 1845

Medium

  • Salt print from paper negative

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Salt print from paper negative

Materials

calotype

Dimensions

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

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Jesse Metcalf Fund

Object Number

77.049

Type

  • Photographs

Exhibition History

Process Work
Intersections of Photography and Print ca. 1825 to Today
Feb 01, 2025 – Jul 20, 2025

Label copy

When photography was first being developed in the late 1830s and early 1840s, its applications were strictly limited to the kinds of objects you see on the left side of this case. Daguerreotypes and salted-paper prints were celebrated as technical marvels for their ability to stabilize images made with a camera. But they were also extremely fragile, subject to fading, and difficult to replicate and share widely. 

In response to these limitations, artists, printmakers, and scientists looked for ways to combine photography with printmaking. A major breakthrough was the addition of light-sensitive materials (including bitumen and dichromated gelatin) to printmaking processes. Discoveries were shared through publications such as Alphonse Poitevin’s 1862 Manual on Photographic Printing without Silver Salts, displayed here.

Early Exposures
19th-Century Photography from the Collection
Mar 13, 2015 – Jul 19, 2015

Label copy

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
The Photographs of Adolphe Braun
Feb 04, 2000 – Apr 22, 2000

Label copy

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.

Capturing the Light
150 Years of Photography
Sep 22, 1989 – Nov 12, 1989

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

David Octavius Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870)
Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848)
Elizabeth Rigby (Lady Eastlake), ca. 1845
Salt print from paper negative
Plate: 19.2 x 13.5 cm (7 9/16 x 5 5/16 inches)
Jesse Metcalf Fund 77.049

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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