Editing Panoramic painting (section)

==History==

{{wide image|Gu Hongzhong's Night Revels 2.jpg|dir=rtl|1000px|Panorama of a half section of ''[[Night Revels of Han Xizai]]'', 12th-century Song dynasty painting}}

{{Panorama|image=Along the River During the Qingming Festival (Qing Court Version).jpg|height=180px|dir=rtl|caption=Panorama ''Along the River during the Qingming Festival'', 18th copy of an original from the 12th century by [[Zhang Zeduan]]}}

The word "[[panorama]]", a portmanteau of the Greek words ‘''pano''’ (all) and ‘''horama''’ (view), was coined by the [[Irish people|Irish]] painter [[Robert Barker (painter)|Robert Barker]] in 1787.<ref name=comment/> While walking on [[Calton Hill]] overlooking [[Edinburgh]], the idea struck him and he obtained a patent for it the same year.<ref name=comment/> Barker's patent included the first coining of the word ''panorama''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lost Edinburgh: Calton Hill and the invention of the panorama|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/lost-edinburgh-calton-hill-and-the-invention-of-the-panorama-1-4032338|website=The Scotsman|accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref> Barker's vision was to capture the magnificence of a scene from every angle so as to immerse the spectator completely, and in so doing, blur the line where art stopped and reality began.<ref name=comment/>
Barker's first panorama was of Edinburgh.<ref name=comment/> He exhibited the ''Panorama of Edinburgh From Calton Hill<ref>{{cite web|title=The panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill|url=https://collections.ed.ac.uk/calendars/record/22080|website=Treasures from University Collections 2011|publisher=The University of Edinburgh|accessdate=16 May 2018}}</ref>'' in his house in 1788, and later in Archers' Hall near the [[The Meadows (park)|Meadows]] to public acclaim.<ref name=comment/> The first panorama disappointed Barker, not because of its lack of success, but because it fell short of his vision.<ref name=comment/> The Edinburgh scene was not a full 360 degrees; it was semi-circular.<ref name=comment/>

[[File:Robert Barker's Panorama of London in November 1790, taken from the roof of Albion Mills, Southwark.ogg|thumb|Annotated Video Tour of Robert Barker's Panorama of London in November 1790, taken from the roof of Albion Mills, Southwark]]

In 1792 he used the term to describe his paintings of [[Edinburgh]], Scotland, shown on a cylindrical surface, which he soon was exhibiting in [[London, England|London]], as "The Panorama".
[[File:Mitchell LeicesterSquareRotunda 05-11-20.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Robert Mitchell (architect)|Robert Mitchell]]'s diagram illustrating the Leicester Square Rotunda, in which was exhibited the Panorama, 1801 (annotated adaptation) ]]

After the commercial but limited technical success of his first panorama, Barker and his son [[Henry Aston Barker]] completed a panorama of [[London]] from the [[Albion Mills, Southwark|Albion Mills]].<ref name=comment/> A reduced version was originally shown in their house with a larger one on display later.<ref name=comment/>
[[File:Cross-section-of-the-rotund 0.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Cross-section of the Rotunda in Leicester Square in which the panorama of London was exhibited (1801)]]

To fulfill his dream of a 360 panorama, Barker and his son purchased a rotunda at [[Leicester Square]].<ref name=comment/> [http://www.renlyon.org/london1790/index.html ''London from the Roof of the Albion Mills''] christened the new rotunda, all 250 square meters of it.<ref name=comment/> The previously reduced version, in contrast, measured only 137 square meters.<ref name=comment/>
The rotunda at Leicester Square was composed of two levels, although they varied in size.<ref name=comment/> Spectators observed the scenes from a platform in the center of the rotunda.<ref name=thom>Thomas, Sophie. "Making Visible: The Diorama, the Double and the (Gothic) subject." ''Gothic Technologies: Visuality in the Romantic Era.'' Ed. Robert Miles. 2005. Praxis Series. 31 January 2010. {{cite web |url=http://romantic.arhu.umd.edu/praxis/gothic/thomas/thomas.html |title=Thomas -"Making Visible: The Diorama, the Double and the (Gothic) Subject"- Gothic Technologies: Visuality in the Romantic Era - Praxis Series - Romantic Circles |accessdate=21 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121215042002/http://romantic.arhu.umd.edu/praxis/gothic/thomas/thomas.html |archivedate=15 December 2012  }}.</ref>

In 1793 Barker moved his panoramas to the first brick panorama rotunda building in the world, in [[Leicester Square]], and made a fortune. Viewers flocked to pay a stiff 3 [[shilling]]s to stand on a central platform under a skylight, which offered an even lighting, and get an experience that was "[[Panorama|panoramic]]" (an adjective that didn't appear in print until 1813). The extended meaning of a "comprehensive survey" of a subject followed sooner, in 1801. Visitors to Barker's Panorama of London, painted as if viewed from the roof of Albion Mills on the South Bank, could purchase a series of six prints that modestly recalled the experience; end-to-end the prints stretched 3.25&nbsp;metres. In contrast, the actual panorama spanned 250 square metres.<ref name="comment4">Comment 1999, p. 23</ref>

The main goal of the panorama was to immerse the audience to the point where they could not tell the difference between the canvas and reality, in other words, wholeness.<ref name=thom/> To accomplish this, all borders of the canvas had to be concealed.<ref name=thom/> Props were also strategically positioned in the foreground of the scene to increase realism.<ref name=thom/> Two windows laid into the roof allowed natural light to flood the canvases, also making the illusion more realistic.<ref name=comment/>
Two scenes could be exhibited at the rotunda in Leicester Square simultaneously; however, the rotunda at Leicester Square was the only rotunda to house two panoramas. Houses with single scenes proved more popular.<ref name=comment/> While at Leicester Square, the audience was herded down a long, dark corridor to clear their minds.<ref name=comment/> The idea was to have spectators more or less forget what they just saw, leaving their minds blank to view the second scene.<ref name=comment/>
Despite the audience's "mind blanking" walk in the dark, panoramas were designed to have a lingering effect upon the viewer.<ref name=thom/> For some, this attribute placed panoramas in the same category as propaganda of the period: no more than an illusion meant to deceive.<ref name=thom/>

Barker's accomplishment involved sophisticated manipulations of [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]] not encountered in the panorama's predecessors, the wide-angle "prospect" of a city familiar since the 16th century, or [[Wenceslas Hollar]]'s ''[[Long View of London from Bankside]]'', etched on several contiguous sheets. When Barker first patented his technique in 1787, he had given it a French title: ''La Nature à Coup d' Oeil'' ("Nature at a glance"). A sensibility to the "[[picturesque]]" was developing among the educated class, and as they toured picturesque districts, like the [[Lake District]], they might have in the carriage with them a large lens set in a picture frame, a "landscape glass" that would contract a wide view into a "picture" when held at arm's length.

Barker made many efforts to increase the realism of his scenes. To fully immerse the audience in the scene, all borders of the canvas were concealed.<ref name="ellis">Ellis 2008, p. 144</ref> Props were also strategically positioned on the platform where the audience stood and two windows were laid into the roof to allow natural light to flood the canvases.<ref>Comment 1999, p. 7-8</ref>

Two scenes could be exhibited in the rotunda simultaneously; however, the rotunda at Leicester Square was the only one to do so.<ref name="comment5">Comment 1999, p. 24</ref> Houses with single scenes proved more popular to audiences as the fame of the panorama spread.<ref name="comment5" /> Because the Leicester Square rotunda housed two panoramas, Barker needed a mechanism to clear the minds of the audience as they moved from one panorama to the other. To accomplish this, patrons walked down a dark corridor and up a long flight of stairs where their minds were supposed to be refreshed for viewing the new scene.<ref>Thomas 2005, p. 10</ref> Due to the immense size of the panorama, patrons were given orientation plans to help them navigate the scene.<ref name="comment3">Comment 1999, p. 161</ref> These glorified maps pinpointed key buildings, sites, or events exhibited on the canvas.<ref name="comment3" />
[[File:Detail from Rudolph Ackermann's painting of 1829 Colosseum.jpg|thumb|left|280px|Detail from ''Bird's Eye View from the Staircase & the Upper Part of the Pavilion in the Colosseum, Regent's Park (1829)'', a coloured [[aquatint]] by [[Rudolph Ackermann]]. Sometimes the viewing position was physically recreated in the panorama's rotunda. The distant image of London shown here is the painted backdrop of the panorama.]]

To create a panorama, artists travelled to the sites and sketched the scenes multiple times.<ref name="comment2">Comment 1999, p. 182</ref> Typically a team of artists worked on one project with each team specializing in a certain aspect of the painting such as landscapes, people or skies.<ref name="comment2" /> After completing their sketches, the artists typically consulted other paintings, of average size, to add further detail.<ref name="comment2" /> Martin Meisel described the panorama: "In its impact, the Panorama was a comprehensive form, the representation not of the segment of a world, but of a world entire seen from a focal height."<ref name="meisel">Meisel 1983, p. 62</ref> Though the artists painstakingly documented every detail of a scene, by doing so they created a world complete in and of itself.<ref>Thomas 2005, p. 14</ref>

The first panoramas depicted urban settings, such as cities, while later panoramas depicted nature and famous military battles.<ref>Comment 1999, pp. 23–25</ref> The necessity for military scenes increased in part because so many were taking place. French battles commonly found their way to rotundas thanks to the feisty leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte.<ref name="comment5" /> Henry Aston Barker's travels to France during the Peace of Amiens led him to court, where Bonaparte accepted him.<ref name="comment5" /> Henry Aston created panoramas of Bonaparte's battles including ''The Battle of Waterloo'', which saw so much success that he retired after finishing it.<ref>Comment 1999, p. 25</ref> Henry Aston's relationship with Bonaparte continued following Bonaparte's exile to Elba, where Henry Aston visited the former emperor.<ref name="comment5" /> [[Pierre Prévost (painter)]] (1764–1823) was the first important French panorama painter. Among his 17 panoramas, the most famous describe the cities of [[Rome]], [[Naples]], [[Amsterdam]], [[Jerusalem]], [[Athens]] and also the battle of [[Wagram]].

Outside of England and France, the popularity of panoramas depended on the type of scene displayed. Typically, people wanted to see images from their own countries or from England. This principle rang true in Switzerland, where views of the Alps dominated.<ref>Comment 1999, p. 53</ref> Likewise in America, New York City panoramas found popularity, as well as imports from Barker's rotunda.<ref>Comment 1999, p. 55-56</ref> As painter John Vanderlyn soon found out, French politics did not interest Americans.<ref name="comment1">Comment 1999, p. 56</ref> In particular, his depiction of Louis XVIII's return to the throne did not live two months in the rotunda before a new panorama took its place.<ref name="comment1" />
[[File:Battery of Raevsky.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Nikolay Raevsky|Raevsky]] Battery at Borodino, a fragment of [[Franz Roubaud|Roubaud]]'s panoramic painting]]
Barker's Panorama was hugely successful and spawned a series of "immersive" panoramas: the Museum of London's curators found mention of 126 panoramas that were exhibited between 1793 and 1863. In Europe, panoramas were created of historical events and battles, notably by the Russian painter [[Franz Roubaud]]. Most major European cities featured more than one purpose-built structure hosting panoramas. These large fixed-circle panoramas declined in popularity in the latter third of the nineteenth century, though in the [[United States]] they experienced a partial revival; in this period, they were more commonly referred to as [[cyclorama]]s.

The panorama competed for audiences most frequently with the [[diorama]], a slightly curved or flat canvas extending 22 by 14&nbsp;metres.<ref name="comment7">Comment 1999, p. 57</ref> The diorama was invented in 1822 by [[Louis Daguerre]] and Charles-Marie Bouton, the latter a former student of the renowned French painter [[Jacques-Louis David]].<ref name="comment7" />

Unlike the panorama where spectators had to move to view the scene, the scenes on the diorama moved so the audience could remain seated.<ref name="comment6">Comment 1999, p. 58</ref> Accomplished with four screens on a roundabout, the illusion captivated 350 spectators at a time for a period of 15&nbsp;minutes.<ref name="comment6" /> The images rotated in a 73 degree arc, focusing on two of the four scenes while the remaining two were prepared, which allowed the canvases to be refreshed throughout the course of the show.<ref name="meisel" /><ref name="comment6" /> While topographical detail was crucial to panoramas, as evidenced by the teams of artists who worked on them, the effect of the illusion took precedence with the diorama.<ref name="thomas">Thomas 2005, p. 11</ref> Painters of the diorama also added their own twist to the panorama's props, but instead of props to make the scenes more real, they incorporated sounds.<ref name="thomas" /> Another similarity to the panorama was the effect the diorama had on its audience. Some patrons experienced a stupor, while others were alienated by the spectacle.<ref>Thomas 2005, p. 12-13</ref> The alienation of the diorama was caused by the connection the scene drew to art, nature and death.<ref name="thomas1">Thomas 2005, p. 13-14</ref> After Daguerre and Bouton's first exhibition in London, one reviewer noted a stillness like that "of the grave."<ref name="thomas1" /> To remedy this tomblike atmosphere Daguerre painted both sides of the canvas, known as "the double effect."<ref name="thomas1" /> By lighting both painted sides of the canvas, light was transmitted and reflected producing a type of transparency producing the effect of time passing.<ref name="meisel" /> This effect gave the crew operating the lights and turning the roundabout a new type of control over the audience than the panorama ever had.<ref name="meisel" />

In Britain and particularly in the [[United States|US]], the panoramic ideal was intensified by unrolling a canvas-backed scroll past the viewer in a ''[[Moving Panorama]],'' an alteration of an idea that was familiar in the hand-held landscape scrolls of [[Song dynasty]]. First unveiled in 1809 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the moving panorama required a large canvas and two vertical rollers to be set up on a stage.<ref name="wilcox">Wilcox 2007, p. 2</ref> Peter Marshall added the twist to Barker's original creation, which saw success throughout the 19th and into the 20th century.<ref name="wilcox" /> The scene or variation of scenes passed between the rollers, eliminating the need to showcase and view the panorama in a rotunda.<ref name="wilcox" /> A precursor to [[Film|"moving" pictures]], the moving panorama incorporated music, sound effects and stand-alone cut-outs to create their mobile effect.<ref name="meisel" /> Such a traveling motion allowed for new types of scenes, such as chase sequences, that could not be produced so well in either the diorama or the panorama.<ref>Meisel, 1983, p. 62</ref> In contrast specifically to the diorama, where the audience seemed to be physically rotated, the moving panorama gave patrons a new perspective, allowing them to "[function] as a moving eye".<ref name="meisel" />

The panorama evolved somewhat and in 1809, the moving panorama graced the stage in Edinburgh.<ref name=w>Wilcox, Scott. [http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T065087 Panorama] ''Grove Art Online.'' Oxford Art Online. 9 February 2010.</ref> Unlike its predecessor, the moving panorama required a large canvas and two vertical rollers.<ref name=w/> The scene or variation of scenes passed before the audience between the rollers, eliminating the need to showcase and view the panoramas in a rotunda.<ref name=w/> Peter Marshall added the twist to Barker's original creation, which saw success throughout the 19th and into the 20th century.<ref name=w/>
Despite the success of the moving panorama, Barker's original vision maintained popularity through various artists, including [[Pierre Prévost (painter)|Pierre Prévost]], Charles Langlois and [[Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux]] among others.<ref name=w/> The revival in popularity for the panorama peaked in the 1880s, having spread through Europe and North America.<ref name=w/>