[James Nasmyth]

The most common associational object used by Hill and Adamson (David Octavius Hill [1802-70] and Robert Adamson [1821-48]) to convey information pertaining to a sitter's background was a book. While such miscellaneous items as a human skull and a birdcage appear in some of the pictures (see 84.XO.734.4.2.10 and 84. XM.445.6), a book was included in many calotypes to indicate that the subject was an educated person. Held by the sitter, a book also functioned as a device to keep hands from fidgeting, while open pages often reflected light, illuminating facial features (see 84.XM.445.15). In this portrait of the inventor James Nasmyth (1808-90), the large, weighty tome is suggestive of the man's intellectual abilities, while the calipers subtly refer to his training as an engineer.

Hill had studied under Nasmyth's father, the noted landscape painter Alexander Nasmyth (1758-1840). In his autobiography James described Hill as "all in all, a most agreeable friend and companion." Hill combined a "lively sense of humour, . . .a romantic and poetic constitution of mind, and his fine sense of the beautiful in Nature."

Anne M. Lyden. Hill and Adamson, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), 32. ©1999, J. Paul Getty Museum.