The photographs in this room are reproduced from a remarkable album in the library of the RSA. Around 1850, the British photographer Charles Clifford established a studio in Spain. His final commission before his death was to document the collection of the Royal Armoury in Madrid. His wife, Jane Clifford, worked alongside him and later took over the studio, making it likely that many of these photographs were taken by her. It has recently come to light that Jane Clifford was the first woman elected to the Photographic Society of France, and her exceptional skill is clearly demonstrated in the Royal Armoury photographs.
Photographing objects of such complexity and capturing their intricate detail demanded considerable technical expertise. Jane Clifford employed the most advanced photographic process of the day, exposing glass negatives using the wet-collodion process and producing albumen prints. The negatives had to be prepared immediately before each exposure, requiring both speed and precision. Their low sensitivity also resulted in long exposure times, making careful control of natural light essential. Many of the objects were therefore probably photographed outdoors.
In both technical achievement and artistic vision, Jane Clifford's Royal Armoury photographs transcend the conventions of nineteenth-century documentary photography. Recognition of her contribution to the history of photography is long overdue.
As a tribute to these photographs, Calum Colvin RSA has created a new work as part of his ongoing Don Quixote series. It references the celebrated episode in which Don Quixote mistakes the basin worn by a barber sheltering from the rain for the legendary Helmet of Mambrino, believed to render its wearer invulnerable. Colvin's work celebrates the transformative power of photography, light, and imagination.
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Jane Clifford, Photographs from the Royal Armoury, Madrid, around 1850-63
c.1821-c.1885 -
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Room 1: Royal Scottish Academicians
The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is Scotland’s oldest surviving artist-run institution. Since 1826, more than 500 artists and architects have been elected by their peers as ‘Academicians’, making them central... -
Room 2: The Morton Award for lens-based Media
The Morton Award for Lens-based Media occupies a vital place in contemporary Scottish photography. Administered by the Royal Scottish Academy and funded by The Morton Charitable Trust, from 2006 to... -
Room 3: The John Kinross Scholarship
Each year the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) John Kinross Scholarship provides ten final year undergraduate and postgraduate art and architecture students with the opportunity to research and develop their practice... -
Room 4: Portraits of Academicians
James Good Tunny (1820–1887) was a professional photographer who established a thriving business in Edinburgh during the 1850s. He recalled that, as a young man in the 1840s, he would... -
Room 6: The Dawn of Photography
Scotland played a leading role in the early years of photography. When, in 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot invented the Calotype process – a method of creating a paper negative... -
Caroline Douglas
Caroline Douglas is an artist and historian of early photography . In her practice she moves across photography, writing and creative archival research to work cross-historically, re-touching the archive, to... -
Irvine & Spence
Disproportionate Impacts & Everyday Agitations This collaborative work from Irvine & Spence was the winner of the RSA Lens-Based Media Award 2024. This was an interim award between the Morton... -
Walter Dalkeith
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Restoration Yard
This gallery space introduces the diverse photographic practice by 19th century and contemporary photographers as part of the wider exhibition at Dalkeith Palace. It features an accessible version of Flannery...
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