Photograph by Samuel Bourne of the Kutub Minar, Delhi, India, about 1850

Albumen print. The Kutub Minar ('Victory Minaret') is a red sandstone tower which stands approximately 240 feet high and was built during the early 13th century by the ruling Delhi sultanate. The intricate calligraphic bands of script which run beneath the balconies contain verses of the Quran. The tower is recognised as one of the earliest Muslim monuments in India and was probably erected to celebrate a victory.

Samuel Bourne (1834-1912) left his job as a bank clerk in Nottingham to become a professional photographer, and in 1863 sailed to India to develop his new career. He remained there for several years to become recognised as one of the most successful British photographers to document the expanding British empire. His photographs were produced primarily for the European market, and provided a glimpse of India as a distant colonised land and its people. Bourne's photographic success was a combination of his impressive photographic skill and ability to present photographs of India that co-incided with the western, Orientalist vision of the exotic East. In 1870 Bourne took up permanent residency in England and withdrew from photography after establishing a cotton-doubling mill. In 1896 after retiring from business he devoted his time to watercolour painting.

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