Sandy Linton

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sandy Linton

by David Octavius Hill, and Robert Adamson
calotype, 1840s
7 1/2in. x 5 1/2in. (191 mm x 141 mm)
Given by Scottish National Portrait Gallery: Edinburgh: UK, 1970
Photographs Collection
NPG x18759

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • Robert Adamson (1821-1848), Pioneer photographer. Artist or producer associated with 382 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.
  • David Octavius Hill (1802-1870), Landscape and portrait painter; pioneer photographer. Artist or producer associated with 382 portraits, Sitter associated with 22 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The invention of photography in 1840 democratised the subject of portraiture and provided more opportunity for photographers to record the lives of everyday people. The most striking examples of this new type of documentary portraiture is a series of Scottish fisherfolk made by the painter David Octavius Hill and the chemist Robert Adamson, between 1843 and 1848. These photographers had decided that this new medium would not be reserved for the socially grand. They were attracted to Newhaven, a fishing village on the Firth of Forth, which had so far escaped the ravages of Victorian industrialisation. Their photographs pictured the traditional fishing community and the social solidarity of friends and families. Carefully composed and photographed in the glare of the coastal sun, Hill and Adamson's images resonate with the dignity and stoicism of these people and their unremitting labour. The prints made by Hill and Adamson are extremely fragile and cannot be displayed for long periods.

Placesback to top

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Events of 1840back to top

Current affairs

Victoria marries her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; he is given the title of Prince Consort.
The Penny Black stamp is introduced by Rowland Hill; the first pre-paid, self-adhesive stamp, it marks the start of the modern postal system.
The start of the Irish potato famine, which by the time of its peak in 1851, had caused the deaths of one million, and contributed to the sharp rise of emigration from Ireland to England and America.

Art and science

Beau Brummel, the fashion leader responsible for sparking the culture of 'Dandyism', dies of syphilis.
The first stone is laid on the new Houses of Parliament, based on the gothic designs by the architects Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. The old buildings had burned down in 1834, following a blaze caused by burning wooden tallies used by the Exchequer to calculate tax.

International

The Afghans surrender to Britain during the Afghan-British war (1839-42). The war was sparked by British fear over Russian influence in Afghanistan, with the British East India Company resolving to depose the Afghan leader, Dost Muhammad, who was insistent on Afghan independence, and restore the former leader Shoja Shah.
The Maoris yield sovereignty of New Zealand under the Treaty of Waitangi.

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