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The panorama, in its principal 19th-century form of a huge painting exhibited in a circular or part-circular room, was essentially the brainchild of the artist Robert Barker in the last decades of the 18th century. Barker developed the correct perspective approaches to give the appearance of all-round vision on a curved surface, and was granted a patent for his process in 1787.
These six hand-coloured prints were sold as a souvenir of a visit to one of Barker’s earliest panoramas, exhibited in Castle Street, London, from June 1791. The Castle Street building was apparently too small to accommodate the whole painting, and it was only by purchasing these prints that the viewer could experience the full 360-degree panoramic representation. From 1793, the Barker panoramas moved to the first purpose-built panorama building in the world, in Leicester Square.
The size of the prints does not allow easy viewing as a continuous circle, but by placing them end to end some idea may be had of the sweep of the view along the Thames and round to the distant rural hills, now of course covered by the south London suburbs. The prints are reproduced twice here to give an idea of the continuous nature of the view. The viewpoint is the roof of the Albion Mills, a factory at the south end of Blackfriars Bridge, which was destroyed by fire shortly after completion of the sketches for the panorama painting in early 1791.
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Created by Hester Higton on 10
April 2000
Last modified on 10
April 2000