Dr. John Murray (Scottish, 1809-1898)
Taj Mahal "from Rt. / D Gateway", circa March 1864
Calotype negative, waxed, with selectively applied pigment
38.0 x 48.0 cm
Dr. John Murray was a Scottish-born physician who entered the service of the East India Company in 1832. By 1848 he had become the Civil Surgeon to Agra, where his true specialty was the fight against cholera. Starting in this period, and for the next two decades, Murray was almost as active in photography as he was in medicine. While on leave in London in 1857, he arranged with the famous printseller, Joseph Hogarth, to distribute prints from his negatives; Hogarth chose from a selection of more than six hundred. A laudatory review appeared in the Morning Post in November 1857 after which time Murray returned to India and received a commission from the Governor General of India to take photographs of specific sites.
Among the sites Murray selected was the Taj Mahal, which Sir Rabindranath Tagore called “a teardrop on the cheek of time.” Standing on the Yamuna River, near the Great Red Fort of Agra, the Taj Mahal is perhaps unique in its effect on visitors. Starting in 1631 and taking more than twenty years to complete, the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built it as a memorial to his Persian wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Rising on a red sandstone base, its white marble dome reflects the constantly changing colors of the day. Murray selectively applied pigment to augment detail in the printing. This gives the impression of an aura around the Taj in the negative.
Dr. John Murray (Scottish, 1809-1898)
Nainital, view of house in forest, circa 1858-1862
Calotype negative, waxed
36.8 x 47.1 cm, irregularly trimmed
Dr. John Murray (Scottish, 1809-1898)
"The tomb of Etmad-Ood-Dawlah," 1857
Salt print from a waxed paper negative
35.2 x 45.5 cm mounted on 46.0 x 54.5 cm paper
Dr. John Murray (Scottish, active in India, 1809-1898)
View of lake, India, circa 1858-1862
Calotype negative, waxed, with selectively applied pigment
38.2 x 47.2 cm
Inscribed "25/12" in ink on verso
Dr. John Murray had a distinguished career as a medical officer in India from 1833-1871. Murray began practicing calotype photography there in 1848 and was the first photographer to systematically record the antiquities in India. This view was made in Nynee Tal, a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site and a popular retreat for the British, especially off-duty officers.