Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1905 (Heft 11))

would already be almost confined to the archives of the Academy. It is to
a dramatic event which occurred in Edinburgh in 1843 that we are indirectly
indebted for the wonderful work which he has done in photography, and
which will undoubtedly “live after him."
The event referred to was the disruption of the Church of Scotland,
when 470 ministers rose in the Assembly Hall and, resigning their churches,
manses, and livings for conscience sake, left the building in a body. Hill
was a witness of the striking and impressive spectacle, and in a rash moment
resolved that his art should preserve a record of a scene so memorable.
Gradually the tremendous nature of the self-imposed task, which
involved the painting of 500 portraits, began to dawn on the distressed
painter, and it occurred to him to consult his friend Sir David Brewster, who,
he knew, had been recently experimenting with the new process by which
the impressions of the camera obscura could be fixed on paper. Sir David
replied that calotype was the thing for his purpose and that he could
recommend a clever young chemist, Robert Adamson of St. Andrews, as a
qualified assistant in the technical manipulation.
Thus the partnership began which was to produce the noble and
extensive series of portraits which for powerful characterization and artistic
quality of uniformly high excellence have certainly never been surpassed and
possibly not even rivaled by any other photographer. This may seem an
extravagant appreciation of Hill's work, but it has been arrived at after
mature deliberation. The great majority of the original paper negatives are
still in existence and are in the hands of an Edinburgh gentleman who, it is
anticipated, will shortly publish a worthy representation of the series so that
the public generally may have an opportunity of studying the portraits and
estimating their value.
In many respects Hill was fortunate. He had no traditional conven-
tions to bias the natural bent of his artistic instincts. There was no ready-
made photographic studio which he might have been tempted to use, fitted
with all manner of devices for rendering soft and puerile the heads and
hands of vital character which were so frequently possessed by his sitters.
The calotype process was such that he could not obtain a clear, sharp image
if he would; his exposures averaged three minutes in duration, yet the
negatives retained full modeling in high light and shadow to a degree
unknown to the worker with gelatine emulsion, and he was not aware of the
possibility of halation.
While there were no technical conventions to misdirect him, Hill was
evidently strongly impressed by the portraits of the recently deceased painter,
Sir Henry Raeburn. Raeburn's portraits constitute ideal models for the
study of the photographer, and it is interesting to note that this fact was
appreciated by a contemporary writer and referred to as follows in a criticism
of Hill's portraits:
“There is the same broad freedom of touch; no nice miniature stipplings,
as if laid in by the point of a needle—no sharp-edged strokes; all is solid,
massy, broad; more distinct at a distance than when viewed near at hand.

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