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Garibaldi and the Risorgimento

The Garibaldi Panorama

EXPLORE: The digitization process An animation of the panorama (Side 1) An animation of the panorama (Side 2) The panorama, scene-by-scene The script for the panorama A video about the panorama READ: An advertisement for the panorama A review of an exhibition of the panorama A paper on the panorama by Ralph Hyde (from the 12th International Panorama Conference) LINKS: The Panorama Effect (CUNY Library Exhibit) International Panorama Council Pilgrim's Progress (Panorama at the Saco Museum) The Garibaldi Panorama is a unique survival of a form of public art that was prevalent throughout the nineteenth century. As a source of visual entertainment as well as offering the latest news, panoramas could be found on display in many cities across western Europe and the United States especially by mid-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 were immensely popular and consequently there was intense competition among the panorama impresarios to supply the most visually stunning images to their paying audiences. With the latest events currency was paramount and the advertisements appearing in the press emphasized the need to offer the most up-to-date as well as reliable pictorial news. While the majority of panoramas were large, fixed paintings viewed from a central platform often with a narrator and occasional musical accompaniments, smaller 'moving' panoramas were created to meet a need for smaller audiences. Whereas the large stationary pieces were completely exposed from beginning to end, the 'moving' panoramas displayed one scene at a time. Attached to rollers, the paintings could be unrolled slowly as a narrator described each vignette to the audience. Markers attached to the paintings would serve as guides for the persons cranking the piece as well as the narrator. An interval would have been announced upon reaching the end of side one, in order for the staff 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 popular subject for commercial entertainment. In 1860, [the year in wich we assume the panorama was produced] Giuseppe Garibaldi was the man of the moment. His portrait as well as his achievements at unifying Italy graced the pages of the illustrated newspapers, and the educated classes would have been very familiar with his accomplishments as well as his efforts that were still ongoing. A linear painting 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 more than their fair share of combat, action, and drama. It would have guaranteed a ready audience in England eager to fork over a shilling or two to spend an hour being enthralled by the escapades of the Italian patriot in words and pictures. This particular example on its two rollers attached to some form of framework could have been transported around by horse and carriage and was small enough for drawing room entertainment in private houses or church halls. While its commercial goals seem undeniable, 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 with a scene related to the August 1862 episode of Aspromonte, in which Garibaldi was wounded, provides some evidence that the artist, John James Story, updated his piece to reflect the latest news (the episode is not recounted in the accompanying manuscript, suggesting that it was added after completion). In 1862, Anthony Burford, a member of the Cotswold family, who had emigrated to the United States in
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1854, returned to Great Britain on a visit. He found this panorama in Nottingham and was able to purchase it from the artist. Mr. Burford brought the panorama back to the United States and attempted to show it, but had little success. It was put into storage by his daughter-in-law Clarissa, wife of Robert Burford, and eventually inherited by Grace Burford, an active member of the International Panorama Diorama 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 Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. The fact that few panoramas have survived is testament to the rigors they endured. In order to keep current, the large fixed panoramas were simply over-painted time after time. In a similar way, the small moving panoramas would have quickly become worn with frequent rolling and unrolling. That the Garibaldi Panorama is painted in watercolor on paper makes its survival even more remarkable. How many times this example was displayed will never be known. One other moving panorama survives in New England, at the Saco Museum in Saco, Maine. This image depicting Pilgrim's Progress based on 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 to the world, part of a site that, we hope, will contribute to add a yet largely unwritten chapter about this popular medium and Garibaldi's popularity in the Europe and the United States of his times.

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