Charles Thurston Thompson was the V&A's first Official Museum Photographer, in charge of the Museum's photographic operations from 1856 until his death in 1868. In addition to photographing museum objects and objects on loan, he also photographed great works of art and architecture on dedicated photographic campaigns abroad. These views were made during a 1867 campaign to Spain and Portugal.

This is one of seven sets of Thurston Thompson's series of photographs of the Monastery of Batalha, Portugal in the V&A collection. A selection of views from the series was published shortly after his death by the Arundel Society, sanctioned by the Science and Art Department, (under the authority of which the V&A was originally established). Available to artists, amateurs and collectors these volumes were available for purchase at a dedicated sales stall in the museum and were also circulated by the Science and Art Department for the use of schools of art.

Of these seven sets, five are bound. The other two sets are composed of loose plates, with some additional plates not included in the bound volumes and marked as proofs. The various stamps and presentation formats demonstrate the multiple ways photographs were circulated not only throughout the museum, but to the larger community of scholars, artists and connoisseurs.