[Mrs. Elizabeth Cockburn Cleghorn and John Henning as Miss Wardour and Eddie Ochiltree from Sir Walter Scott's "The Antiquary"]

1846–1847

Medium

Salted paper print from a paper negative

Dimensions

20.6 × 15.7 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-724802

> In this plate the sculptor John Henning (1771-1851) and Mrs. Elizabeth Cleghorn (died 1908), the daughter of the jurist Lord Cockburn (1779-1854), play the roles of Edie Ochiltree and Miss Wardour from Sir Walter Scott's *The Antiquary* (1816). Following the text closely, Hill and Adamson (David Octavius Hill [1802-70] and Robert Adamson [1821-48]) have furnished Ochiltree with white hair, a staff, and a badge that indicates his beggar status. The picture illustrates this passage: "The young lady, as she presented her tall and elegant figure at the open window, but divided from the courtyard by a grating, . . . might be supposed by a romantic imagination an imprisoned damsel communicating a tale of her durance to a palmer, in order that he might call upon the gallantry of every knight whom he should meet in his wanderings to rescue her from her oppressive thraldom." The setting for the image was Bonaly Tower, Lord Cockburn's home. > > The great success of the works of Scott (1771-1932), who is credited as being the creator of the historical novel, possibly explains Hill and Adamson's motivation in creating tableaux vivants based on his characters (see also [84.XO.734.4.3.17](ht…