Lady Elizabeth Eastlake
In her 1857 essay "Photography," Lady Elizabeth Eastlake credits the sun, and by implication light itself, as the author of photographs, and distinguishes picture making as an art form from "merely mechanical" copying. Often criticized today for its gendered language—the essay refers to sensitized paper as passive and feminine, and to light as the masculine agent that "etches" images instantaneously—Eastlake’s "Photography" remains significant for its positioning of the new medium among the fine arts. In this portrait, the author’s pose echoes her gendered assessment of photography, as she receives rather than confronts the camera’s gaze.
Artwork Details
- Title: Lady Elizabeth Eastlake
- Photography Studio: Hill and Adamson (British, active 1843–1848)
- Artist: Robert Adamson (British, St. Andrews, Scotland 1821–1848 St. Andrews, Scotland)
- Artist: David Octavius Hill (British, Perth, Scotland 1802–1870 Edinburgh, Scotland)
- Person in Photograph: Person in photograph Lady Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake
- Date: 1843–1847
- Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
- Dimensions: 8 3/8 × 6 1/4 in. (21.3 × 15.9 cm)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012
- Object Number: 2013.159.12
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Multiple artists/makers
1843–47
Multiple artists/makers
1843–47
Multiple artists/makers
1843–47
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1844
Multiple artists/makers
1843–47
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