St. Andrews Castle, from the Southeast (1846): Art, History and Details

St. Andrews Castle, from the Southeast (1846) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is David Octavius Hill (British, 1802–1870); Robert Adamson (British, 1821–1848).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This photograph is from a body of work created in 1846 by the pioneering Scottish photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson. Their ambitious campaign to record the principal buildings and sites of the historic Scottish town of St. Andrews resulted in over 70 known images. From an elevated viewpoint, they made three exposures of this picturesque vista of the ruins of St. Andrews Castle, located on a rocky shoreline jutting into the North Sea. This poetic, evocative print, which may be unique, is notable for its broad areas to light and dark. The diagonal shadow in the left foreground and the curving rock formations guide the viewer's interest to the remains of the castle. Its tall, solid forms occupy the empty space of the sea and sky. The photographers participated in a wide-ranging, contemporary interest in the architecture, landscape, and history of Scotland. St. Andrews was a particular favorite, since it was the ancient ecclesiastical capital of Scotland and the seat of the oldest university. Built around 1200, the castle was the residence of the bishops and archbishops of St. Andrews. It was last rebuilt in the 17th century but was subsequently neglected.

Object facts

• Title: St. Andrews Castle, from the Southeast
• Date: 1846
• Creator attribution: David Octavius Hill (British, 1802–1870); Robert Adamson (British, 1821–1848)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: salted paper print from calotype negative
• Dimensions: Image: 19.9 x 18.7 cm (7 13/16 x 7 3/8 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1997.145

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.