David Octavius HillBritish, 1802–1870Dumbarton Presbytery
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Dumbarton Presbytery” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Painter and illustrator David Octavius Hill engaged photographer Robert Adamson to help him fulfill a monumental commission to commemorate the so-called Disruption of 1843, in which the Free Church of Scotland was formed when a group of ministers seceded from the country’s established church. Hill wished to portray each of the nearly 450 participants at the Disruption Assembly, and found an efficient means of doing so by working from photographs, specifically the recently patented paper negative process, which Adamson had begun practicing professionally earlier that year. Together, Hill and Adamson made around 2,500 images in the short period before Adamson’s illness and death; it then took Hill 20 years to complete the painting. This is one of the few carefully composed group portraits that Hill eventually transferred almost unchanged onto canvas—he painted one man as bald, however, to reflect his later appearance.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Details
- Accession number
- 2002.548
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
