About this artwork
This is one of four calotypes of young girls with David Octavius Hill’s dog, a terrier pup called Brownie. The girls depicted are Sophia Finlay – Hill’s great-niece – and Harriet Farnie, the younger of two sisters. Sleeping children were a recurring theme in nineteenth-century art, as it played on the Victorian fascination with childhood innocence and death. The image is clear and well-defined, which means that the girls must have sat very still for anything from several seconds up to a minute. Presumably the dog had been played with until it collapsed in exhaustion. Hill later called this picture ‘The Sleepers’ and added ‘Brownie, my stolen and lamented terrier pup’.
Updated before 2020
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artists:
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title:Sophia Finlay and Harriet Farnie
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date created:1843 - 1847
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materials:Albumen print
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measurements:19.80 x 13.60 cm
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object type:
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accession number:PGP HA 4846
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gallery:
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depicted:
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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...