This photograph shows Selimiye Barracks at Scutari, Constantinople. The barracks were used by the British army during the Crimean War as the main military hospital, with conditions greatly improving after the arrival of Florence Nightingale in November 1854. Robertson was based in Constantinople, working as an engraver for the Imperial Ottoman Mint. It is likely that he photographed this tower, where Florence Nightingale lived, knowing the growing interest the British public had in her work.

From the collection of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII