Photograph of Musamman Burj, an octagonal tower at Agra Fort, taken from a high vantage point. The tower is surrounded by a veranda and is topped by a chhatri, an elevated dome-shaped pavilion. Part of the palace can be seen to the left and to the right there is a moat surrounded by a high stone wall. Beyond is the Yamuna River with open land to either side.

This view is one of 30 prints taken during the early to mid 1850s that were published in 1858 by Hogarth under the title 'Agra and Its Vicinity'. This followed an exhibition, set up by Hogarth in December 1857, of 35 Indian views by Dr Murray, who was a civil servant at Agra and one of the earliest photographers in India. Queen Victoria had followed the Indian situation and events of the 1857 Uprising with deep concern. At that time, India's administration was divided between the East India Company (responsible for an army, navy and tax collecting system) and the Crown. It now became clear that the Company could no longer maintain control over a territory which had, mostly by annexation, doubled its size over the previous twenty years so, in 1858, the Crown assumed full direct responsibility for India's government. Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1876.