Taj Mahal and Gardens
ca. 1855
Medium
Waxed paper negative
Dimensions
38.5 x 47.2 cm (15 3/16 x 18 9/16 in.)
Classification
Negatives
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Anonymous Gift and Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 1997
Accession Number
1997.382.57
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the ethereal "Taj Mahal and Gardens a waxed paper negative captured around 1855 by pioneering photographer John Murray. This stunning image preserves one of the world's most iconic monuments—the Taj Mahal, Emperor Shah Jahan's 17th-century marble maus built as a tribute to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Nestled amid its symmetrical gardens in Agra, India, the structure gleams with otherworldly grace, its domes and minarets framed against the landscape in Murray's masterful composition. Crafted via the calotype process, this 38.5 x 47.2 cm negative represents an early triumph of photog...