102 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Thomas Leverton Donaldson

Accession Number
1989/1.56

Title
Thomas Leverton Donaldson

Artist(s)
David Octavius Hill; Robert Adamson

Object Creation Date
1843-1847

Medium & Support
calotype negative on paper

Dimensions
8 9/16 in x 6 9/16 in (21.8 cm x 16.6 cm);14 5/16 in x 19 5/16 in (36.35 cm x 49.05 cm);8 5/8 in x 6 9/16 in (21.9 cm x 16.7 cm);8 3/8 in x 6 3/16 in (21.3 cm x 15.7 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
This photographic negative depicts an older, seated man in a three piece suit. The man reclines on the armrest of his chair, his head turned to the side, the inverted tones of the negative rendering his light skin as a rich dark. The man is the Scottish architect, Thomas Leverton Donaldson. The photographers who created this image, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, received instruction from William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the calotype. This calotype negative was later printed as a salted paper print. Hill and Adamson enjoyed a deeply prolific collaboration together, which was tragically cut short by Hill’s premature death. In the five years they worked together, they produced a remarkable body of work that served to elevate perception of the newly invented process of photography into an artistic medium. 

Physical Description
This photographic negative depicts an older man seated in an interior. His head is turned to the side and he wears a three-piece suit.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
architects
calotypes (negatives)
males
negatives (photographs)
paper negatives
portraits
seated
sitters

2 Related Resources

Photographic Portraiture in the 19th Century
(Part of: Identity and Self-Understanding)
 W19 Perlove - HISTART 210 History of Photography Study Case 
(Part of: FFW Lower Level Study Cases     )

& Author Notes

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