Interieur van het Fort of Agra 1862 - 1864

Shepherd and Robertson made this photograph of the Agra Fort interior. Look closely, and you will see that the architecture itself is the artwork. Every surface is densely ornamented with carved relief. It's all made from marble, which gives a feeling of cool smoothness. But how was this effect achieved? It's all hand work, of course. We can imagine masons hunched over blocks of stone for months, even years. Consider the implications of that labor. It speaks to a system of patronage in which the rulers have absolute command of resources, including human skill and time. Now, photography itself was becoming increasingly industrialized, even by the time this image was made. Think of it: Shepherd and Robertson came to India as agents of Empire, recording this scene of manual production with a mechanical device. So, in the end, this photograph is a record of two different modes of production meeting, one ancient and one modern. Recognizing that helps us see just how complex the encounter between East and West really was.