The National Gallery and Royal Institution (Royal Scottish Academy), Edinburgh
About this artwork
The unusual viewpoint of this photograph creates a powerful composition and allows for the juxtaposition of different building styles in nineteenth-century Edinburgh. Immediately on the right is the National Gallery of Scotland, designed by William Playfair and only just completed when this picture was taken. Further along is the Royal Institution, now the Royal Scottish Academy, which was also designed by Playfair but built some thirty years earlier. Both buildings contrast strikingly with the Life Association Head Office on Princes Street, with its busy façade and Venetian-style balconies. Designed by David Rhind, it was completed in the same year as the National Gallery. In the late 1960s, however, the building was demolished and replaced by a modern department store.
Updated before 2020
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artist:William Donaldson Clark (1813 - 1873) Scottish
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title:The National Gallery and Royal Institution (Royal Scottish Academy), Edinburgh
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date created:About 1858
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materials:Albumen print
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measurements:21.10 x 26.30 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Gift of Mrs. Riddell in memory of Peter Fletcher Riddell, 1985
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accession number:PGP R 128
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gallery:
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subject:
William Donaldson Clark
William Donaldson Clark
William Donaldson Clark was a wealthy cotton cloth printer who used his knowledge of chemistry in his practice as an amateur photographer. He employed the dry collodion process which made outdoor work more practical. Although it required exposure times of up to a quarter of an hour, the technique...