About this artwork
Early photographic chemicals responded at different speeds to different colours; they were slow to react to the green of trees and grass. This may explain why, Hill, who was an experienced landscape painter, only took a few landscape calotypes. This tree could just be a dead branch with a few tendrils of ivy. The background is made up of spots of unreadable light, which could be the shimmer of leaves or water. It is impossible to tell whether this tree is real or not by looking at the photograph.
Updated before 2020
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artists:
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title:Ivy-covered tree at Colinton. 'The Fairy Tree'
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date created:1843 - 1846
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materials:Salted paper print
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measurements:22.50 x 16.60 cm
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object type:
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accession number:PGP HA 426
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gallery:
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subject:
Robert Adamson
Robert Adamson
Robert Adamson was one of the first professional photographers, setting up in business in Edinburgh in March 1843. He had aspired to be an engineer but his health was too poor. His brother, John, who was involved in the early experiments with photography in St Andrews, taught him the calotype...
