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Thomas Duncan

Artist: Adamson, Robert · 1821-1848Publisher: Wilson, DanielPrinter: Wahler, WArtist: Sutcliffe, JohnArtist: Hill, David Octavius, RSA · 1802-1870

Thomas Duncan

the sitter's coat is shown to button right over left whereas the norm for males is to fasten left over right, indicating that Sutcliffe did not…

the sitter's coat is shown to button right over left whereas the norm for males is to fasten left over right, indicating that Sutcliffe did not reverse his image prior to drawing it to ensure that the finished print showed the coat correctly fastened. This would have been the case had he worked from the life or from a calotype (see below). Duncan's final illness caused him to be seriously unwell effectively from the end of 1844 through to his death on 25 April 1845 so it is unlikely that he stood for Sutcliffe in the life

The print is dated 1845 and was possibly published as a memorial to Duncan who died on 25 April that year just short of his 38th birthday and widely mourned

Sutcliffe's drawing is probably based on a calotype of Duncan taken by Hill and Adamson in Greyfriar's Churchyard in Edinburgh. Vide RSA 1993.293 for a calotype which shows Duncan in almost exactly this pose, but in reverse and with minor variants. In that calotype (SNPG Hill/Adamson Catalogue, Stevenson, 1981, DUNCAN, Thomas (b)) his head is more raised, as is his left elbow [right as shown here] which rests on part of a wall monument. The most striking variant however is that in the calotype his right arm is extended straight to his right and rests on a walking cane. In this print the cane is replaced by a piece of cloth which is held by a near straight hand which hangs by his side. Sutcliffe may have adapted his drawing from a copy of this calotype, or it is possible that Sutcliffe's lithograph provides a unique record of another, now lost, Hill Adamson calotype of Duncan.The Scottish National Portrait Gallery holds several impressions and the National Portrait Gallery, London also holds a copy (ref NPG P6(20)) .

Sutcliffe's drawing is probably based on a calotype of Duncan taken by Hill and Adamson in Greyfriar's Churchyard in Edinburgh. The National Portrait Gallery, London holds a copy (ref NPG P6(20)) of a calotype which shows Duncan in almost exactly this pose, but in reverse and with minor variants. In the NPG calotype (SNPG Hill/Adamson Catalogue, Stevenson, 1981, DUNCAN, Thomas (b)) his head is more raised, as is his left elbow [right as shown here] which rests on part of a wall monument. The most striking variant however is that in the calotype his right arm is extended straight to his right and rests on a walking cane. In this print the cane is replaced by a piece of cloth which is held by a near straight hand which hangs by his side. Sutcliffe may have adapted his drawing from a copy of this calotype, or it is possible that Sutcliffe's lithograph provides a unique record of another, now lost ,Hill Adamson calotype of Duncan.