Sergeant and Private of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders in Edinburgh Castle. Known as 'The Porthole' [Military 1]
About this artwork
Having returned from the West Indies in July 1845, the 92nd Gordon Highlanders were stationed at Edinburgh Castle until their move to Ireland April 1846, and later the Ionian Islands and Gibraltar. Whilst Hill was making studies for his painting ‘Edinburgh Old and New’, which looks down over the Castle barracks, he took a series of photographs of the soldiers. In this image the Private stands to attention, in a formal and rigid pose, in comparison to the Sergeant who adopts a much more relaxed stance, casually leaning against the canon. This reflects the difference in rank between the two soldiers, with the Sergeant senior to the Private.
Updated before 2020
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title:Sergeant and Private of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders in Edinburgh Castle. Known as 'The Porthole' [Military 1]
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date created:April 1846
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materials:Salted paper print
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measurements:19.10 x 13.90 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Bequeathed by James Brownlee Hunter, 1928
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accession number:PGP HA 2661
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David Octavius Hill
David Octavius Hill
A painter and a lithographer by training, David Octavius Hill is best remembered for the beauty of the calotypes he and Robert Adamson produced together. Hill was a sociable and kind-hearted man who did much to support the arts in Scotland and between 1830 and 1836 he was the unpaid Secretary of...