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The Garibaldi Panorama

EXPLORE:

The digitization processAn animation of the panorama (Side 1)An animation of the panorama (Side 2)The panorama, scene-by-sceneThe script for the panoramaA video about the panorama

READ:

An advertisement for the panoramaA review of an exhibition of the panorama

A paper on the panorama by Ralph Hyde (from the 12th International PanoramaConference)

LINKS:

The Panorama Effect (CUNY Library Exhibit)International Panorama CouncilPilgrim's Progress (Panorama at the Saco Museum)

The Garibaldi Panorama is a unique survival of a form of public art that was prevalent throughout thenineteenth century. As a source of visual entertainment as well as offering the latest news, panoramascould be found on display in many cities across western Europe and the United States especially bymid-century. Purpose-built structures sprang-up in order to exhibit the vast 360 degree canvases.Besides pictorial news of the events of the day, these linear paintings interpreted subjects from history,

provided views of great cities such as Paris and Rome, and streamed travelogues. They wereimmensely popular and consequently there was intense competition among the panorama impresariosto supply the most visually stunning images to their paying audiences. With the latest events currencywas paramount and the advertisements appearing in the press emphasized the need to offer the mostup-to-date as well as reliable pictorial news.

While the majority of panoramas were large, fixed paintings viewed from a central platform often with anarrator and occasional musical accompaniments, smaller 'moving' panoramas were created to meet aneed for smaller audiences. Whereas the large stationary pieces were completely exposed frombeginning to end, the 'moving' panoramas displayed one scene at a time. Attached to rollers, thepaintings could be unrolled slowly as a narrator described each vignette to the audience. Markersattached to the paintings would serve as guides for the persons cranking the piece as well as thenarrator. An interval would have been announced upon reaching the end of side one, in order for thestaff to turn the panorama around for displaying the second side.

The moving panorama depicting the life and times of Garibaldi is an example of the use of a popularsubject for commercial entertainment. In 1860, [the year in wich we assume the panorama wasproduced] Giuseppe Garibaldi was the man of the moment. His portrait as well as his achievements atunifying Italy graced the pages of the illustrated newspapers, and the educated classes would havebeen very familiar with his accomplishments as well as his efforts that were still ongoing. A linearpainting interpreting these in action-packed vivid color in 48 sections would have been hugely popular.Wars were particularly appealing subjects for panorama painters, and the events in Italy offered morethan their fair share of combat, action, and drama. It would have guaranteed a ready audience inEngland eager to fork over a shilling or two to spend an hour being enthralled by the escapades of theItalian patriot in words and pictures. This particular example on its two rollers attached to some form offramework could have been transported around by horse and carriage and was small enough fordrawing room entertainment in private houses or church halls. While its commercial goals seemundeniable, scholars are also exploring interesting hypotheses on the Panoramas role as propaganda

(Garibaldi enjoyed a triumphal welcome in London in 1864). The fact that the Panorama concludes witha scene related to the August 1862 episode of Aspromonte, in which Garibaldi was wounded, providessome evidence that the artist, John James Story, updated his piece to reflect the latest news (theepisode is not recounted in the accompanying manuscript, suggesting that it was added aftercompletion).

In 1862, Anthony Burford, a member of the Cotswold family, who had emigrated to the United States in

http://www.sacomuseum.org/panorama/index.shtmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/Ralph_Hyde_Garibaldi_Panorama.pdfhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_movie.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/catalog.php?verb=render&id=1190673037875000http://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_scenes.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panoramaFlash2011/side2.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_digitization.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/john_james_story.htmlhttp://www.sacomuseum.org/panorama/index.shtmlhttp://www.panoramapainting.com/http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2003/panorama/default.htmhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/Ralph_Hyde_Garibaldi_Panorama.pdfhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/review.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/ad.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_movie.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/catalog.php?verb=render&id=1190673037875000http://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_scenes.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panoramaFlash2011/side2.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panoramaFlash2011/side1.htmlhttp://library.brown.edu/cds/garibaldi/panorama_digitization.html

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1854, returned to Great Britain on a visi t. He found this panorama in Nottingham and was able topurchase it from the artist. Mr. Burford brought the panorama back to the United States and attemptedto show it, but had little success. It was put into storage by his daughter-in-law Clarissa, wife of RobertBurford, and eventually inherited by Grace Burford, an active member of the International PanoramaDiorama Society. She, in turn, gave it to her nephew, Dr. James Smith, in about 1980. In October 2005,Dr. Smith donated the panorama to the Brown University Library, where it resides as part of the AnneS.K. Brown Military Collection.

The fact that few panoramas have survived is testament to the rigors they endured. In order to keepcurrent, the large fixed panoramas were simply over-painted time after time. In a similar way, the smallmoving panoramas would have quickly become worn with frequent rolling and unrolling. That theGaribaldi Panorama is painted in watercolor on paper makes its survival even more remarkable. Howmany times this example was displayed will never be known. One other moving panorama survives inNew England, at the Saco Museum in Saco, Maine. This image depicting Pilgrim's Progress basedon John Bunyan's classic 17th century story, was rediscovered in the building by a former curator.

In 2007, with financial support from the Department of Italian Studies and Vincent J. Buonanno (Brown'66), the library digitized the panorama, and we are pleased to be able to offer this amazing treasure tothe world, part of a site that, we hope, will contribute to add a yet largely unwritten chapter about thispopular medium and Garibaldi's popularity in the Europe and the United States of his times.

http://www.sacomuseum.org/