Afghans
The photographic collaboration between the painter D. O. Hill and the chemist Robert Adamson was a fruitful blending of the men’s respective talents. Hill’s membership in the Royal Scottish Academy gave the business partners access to a clientele of artists who sought photographic studies of posed models for their paintings. This photograph was likely a commission from the academy’s president Sir William Allan, who had collected exotic costumes and armor while traveling through Russia. During the 1840s Allan exhibited a series of Orientalist paintings depicting Circassians, an ethnic group from the Northern Caucasus. Here subtle shadows obscure the models’ faces, lending an air of mystery and drama to the imposing armor-clad figures.
Artwork Details
- Title: Afghans
- Photography Studio: Hill and Adamson (British, active 1843–1848)
- Artist: David Octavius Hill (British, Perth, Scotland 1802–1870 Edinburgh, Scotland)
- Artist: Robert Adamson (British, St. Andrews, Scotland 1821–1848 St. Andrews, Scotland)
- Person in Photograph: Person in photograph Edward William Lane (British, Hereford 1801–1876 Worthing)
- Date: 1843
- Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Robert O. Dougan Collection, Gift of Warner Communications Inc., 1981
- Object Number: 1981.1229.13
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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