Likeness of the Portraitist Robert Frain, ca. 1845

About the Work

Invented around 1840, the calotype was the first photographic process based on the negative. This photograph is a very early example. The portrait painter Robert Frain had to pose without moving for several minutes. He is in the act of drawing, and concentrating hard on his work. Himself a trained landscape painter, Hill photographed his colleague in a manner that was also typical of painting of the period. The subject matter, arrangement and props are identical. In 1843 Hill began his collaboration with chemist Robert Adamson. Both men are considered pioneers of photography.