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Description: "The [second] Marquis of Northampton [Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton]." Salted paper print from a calotype negative, 7 1/2x5 1/4 (19x13.3 cm.), with a caption, in pencil, and a Royal Scottish Academy monogram hand stamp on mount recto. 1844

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Notes: The Marquis of Northampton was a member of the Northampton Parliament and president of the Royal Society, a scientific society in the United Kingdom, from 1838-1848. The caption on recto is in an unidentified period hand, which appears on other prints by Hill and Adamson.

The Royal Scottish Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1826 and was granted a royal charter in 1839. Octavius Hill was a founding member of the Society and, in 1852, donated a group of presentation albums containing calotypes to the Academy. The photographs were de-accessioned in 1977.

This image is reproduced in an early victorian album: the photographic masterpieces (1843-1847) of david octavius hill and robert adamson, (New York, 1976), p. 195.

David Octavius Hill, a painter and lithographer, and Robert Adamson, a photographer, became partners and collaborators when Hill was commissioned to paint a commemorative portrait of the First General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, in 1843. In order to obtain poses for many of the figures, Hill turned to photography as an aid and Adamson as a partner. After the project was completed the two remained associates and were well-respected in Edinburgh Society. Local aristocrats, scholars, and artists as well as celebrated visitors to the city sat for a Hill & Adamson portraits.