Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X41

Mr Lane in Indian Dress

Photograph
1843-1847 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This image was the product of the renowned partnership of the painter David Octavius Hill and the chemist Robert Adamson. Hill’s artistic direction can be seen in the clever use of light, which highlights the subject against a dark background, and in the elegant composition. Hill and Adamson used the ‘calotype’ or ‘talbotype’ process, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840 and patented by him in 1841. Calotypes were made by treating sheets of normal writing paper with chemicals to make them highly sensitive to light. The sensitised sheets could be used damp in the camera, where an exposure ranging from ten seconds to over half an hour was necessary, depending on the weather, time of day, intensity of the chemicals employed, and subject. This created paper negatives, which were waxed to give them translucency. They could then be used to make multiple positive prints by placing them in direct contact with a second piece of light-sensitive paper and leaving both in sunlight. Since paper was used for both negatives and prints, its fibres softened the images and enhanced a painterly effect.

It is not known whether the Mr Lane shown is the Edinburgh actor of this name or the explorer Edward William Lane (1801-1876). His Indian costume might by explained by either identity: the explorer may have collected such clothes on his travels or the actor may have been dressed for a theatrical role. Mr Lane is posed in the open air since interiors were not light enough for a negative to be quickly produced in the 1840s. The setting of the portrait, however, does not acknowledge the open-air location and is arranged to look like an interior scene.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMr Lane in Indian Dress (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Salt paper print from calotype negative
Brief description
Photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson of a man, full length, wearing Indian dress. The man depicted is Edward Lane, orientalist and author of Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, salted paper print from calotype negative
Physical description
Photograph of a man, full length, wearing Indian dress.
Dimensions
  • Height: 18.5cm
  • Width: 13.2cm
Style
Credit line
Edinburgh Public Library
Historical context
The famous partnership and collaboration between the artist David Octavius Hill and the photographer Robert Adamson came into being originally in order to produce photographic portraits to assist Hill as a painter. The team produced a wide range of superb, valuable work and they were the first consistently and successfully employ calotype process in Great Britain.

1843 Hill was introduced to Adamson and they began to collaborate on the production of calotype portraits as reference images for the painting ‘The Signing of the Deed of Demission’ which represents 474 dignitaries. Essentially, Hill posed and arranged the individual sitters or groups while Adamson attended to the technical aspects of the exposure, processing, and printing.

Some of their most powerful images, however, were made in Scottish seashore villages and depict fishermen and women. They also photographed the architecture and monument of Scotland and made calotypes of their friends posed in medieval armour or costumes.
Production
Hill & Adamson
Subject depicted
Summary
This image was the product of the renowned partnership of the painter David Octavius Hill and the chemist Robert Adamson. Hill’s artistic direction can be seen in the clever use of light, which highlights the subject against a dark background, and in the elegant composition. Hill and Adamson used the ‘calotype’ or ‘talbotype’ process, invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840 and patented by him in 1841. Calotypes were made by treating sheets of normal writing paper with chemicals to make them highly sensitive to light. The sensitised sheets could be used damp in the camera, where an exposure ranging from ten seconds to over half an hour was necessary, depending on the weather, time of day, intensity of the chemicals employed, and subject. This created paper negatives, which were waxed to give them translucency. They could then be used to make multiple positive prints by placing them in direct contact with a second piece of light-sensitive paper and leaving both in sunlight. Since paper was used for both negatives and prints, its fibres softened the images and enhanced a painterly effect.

It is not known whether the Mr Lane shown is the Edinburgh actor of this name or the explorer Edward William Lane (1801-1876). His Indian costume might by explained by either identity: the explorer may have collected such clothes on his travels or the actor may have been dressed for a theatrical role. Mr Lane is posed in the open air since interiors were not light enough for a negative to be quickly produced in the 1840s. The setting of the portrait, however, does not acknowledge the open-air location and is arranged to look like an interior scene.
Bibliographic reference
Stevenson, Sara. 'David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson: Catalogue of their Calotypes Taken Between 1843 and 1847 in the Collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery', (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 1981). ISBN 0903148374
Other number
pg. 79 (a) - National Galleries of Scotland, Hill & Adamson 1981 Catalogue, page and classification
Collection
Accession number
3127-1955

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Record createdJanuary 28, 2004
Record URL
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