Mrs. Rigby

Dateca. 1845

Maker David Octavius Hill British, 1802-1870

Maker Robert Adamson Scottish, 1821-1848

Label TextHill and Adamson were among the earliest and most innovative portrait photographers of their time. Dependent on direct sunlight for the long exposures they needed, the artists fashioned an outdoor 'studio' that pretended to be a furnished Victorian interior. This ambiguous pictorial setting hangs onto the conventions of painted portraiture but the incongruous squinting of the sitters belongs to the moment. Anne Palgrave Rigby (1777-1872) was the wife of a Norfolk doctor and mother of twelve children. Frequent visitors to Edinburgh, she and her two daughters often sat for Hill and Adamson.

Object number74.25

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 200 Photographs from the Museum Collection, Dec. 8, 1983 - Feb. 5, 1984. Text by Rod Slemmons. No cat. no. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Portrait Collaborations 19th-Century Works from the Permanent Collection, May 31, 2001 - Jan. 1, 2002.

Credit LineRichard E. Fuller Acquisition Fund

Dimensions8 1/4 x 6 in. (21 x 15.3 cm)

MediumCalotype on paper