Art review: A Perfect Chemistry - Photographs by Hill & Adamson

It began with a painting. In May 1843, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland made history when more than 400 ministers walked out to form the Free Church. David Octavius Hill was a painter, and brother-in-law to one of the dissenting clergy. He wanted to immortalise the moment in a large-scale history painting. He began almost straight away, making studies of the people involved and planning the composition, but he had more than 400 ministers to paint and only a matter of days before they returned to their parishes all over Scotland. Sir David Brewster, physicist and keen amateur photographer, suggested a solution: why not use the new medium of photography to capture his source material? He knew just the man to help.