Panorama Mesdag is a panorama by Hendrik Willem Mesdag. Housed in a purpose-built museum in The Hague, the panorama is a cylindrical painting (also known as a Cyclorama) more than 14 metres high and about 40 metres in diameter (120 metres in circumference). From an observation gallery in the centre of the room the cylindrical perspective creates the illusion that the viewer is on a high sand dune overlooking the sea, beaches and village of Scheveningen in the late 19th century. A foreground of fake terrain around the viewing gallery hides the base of the painting and makes the illusion more convincing.
Mesdag was a marine painter of the Hague School; in 1880 he was engaged by a Belgian company to paint the panorama, which with the assistance of his wife Sientje Mesdag-van Houten and some student painters (including George Hendrik Breitner), was completed by 1881. However, the vogue for panoramas was coming to an end, and the company went bankrupt in 1886. Mesdag purchased the panorama and met its losses from his own pocket. The panorama is now the oldest surviving panorama in its original location.
Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United States, inciting opposition from some writers of Romantic poetry. A few have survived into the 21st century and are on public display. Typically shown in rotundas for viewing, panoramas were meant to be so lifelike they confused the spectator between what was real and what was image.
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (wijk) of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular for water sports such as windsurfing and kiteboarding. The harbour is used for both fishing and tourism.
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was coined in the 18th century by the English painter Robert Barker to describe his panoramic paintings of Edinburgh and London. The motion-picture term panning is derived from panorama.
George Hendrik Breitner was a Dutch painter and photographer. An important figure in Amsterdam Impressionism, he is noted especially for his paintings of street scenes and harbours in a realistic style. He painted en plein air, and became interested in photography as a means of documenting street life and atmospheric effects – rainy weather in particular – as reference materials for his paintings.
A cyclorama is a panoramic image on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make viewers, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of the place depicted in the image.
Hendrik Willem Mesdag was a Dutch marine painter.
The Hague School is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of relatively somber colors, which is why the Hague School is sometimes called the Gray School.
Mesdag may refer to:
Isaac Lazarus Israëls was a Dutch painter associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement.
The Mesdag Collection is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. It is managed by the Van Gogh Museum.
Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, also known as Hendrik Johannes Weissenbruch was a Dutch painter of the Hague School. He is noted especially for his watercolours.
Théophile Emile Achille de Bock was a Dutch painter belonging to the Hague School. Although many denigrate De Bock's work as too gray and too sketchy, Hague School champions love his work. Even Van Gogh was convinced of De Bocks "artistic temperament", although he eventually found his choice of subject too limited and tried to get De Bock to paint figure studies. But De Bock stuck to the subject he was good at, the Dutch landscapes.
Pulchri Studio is a Dutch art society, art institution and art studio based in The Hague ('s-Gravenhage), Netherlands.
The Museum Kunst der Westküste is a non-profit foundation, located in Alkersum on the north Frisian island, Föhr. The museum collects, researches, communicates and exhibits art that deals with the themes of sea and coast. The museum began with a collection of paintings donated by the museum's founder, Frederik Paulsen, chairman of Ferring Pharmaceuticals.
Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël or Paul Gabriël was a painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and etcher who belonged to the Hague School.
Taco Mesdag was a Dutch banker and painter.
Sina (Sientje) van Houten was the wife of Hendrik Willem Mesdag, the Dutch marine painter of the Hague School, and a painter herself.
The Tweede Schilderijenzaal, or Painting Gallery II, is one of two art gallery rooms in Teylers Museum. The Tweede Schilderijenzaal was built in 1893 as an extension of the first gallery.
Henk Gerrit Guth was a Dutch artist who had a career in Australia, remembered for "Panorama Guth" (1975–2005), a cyclorama in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
Geesje Kwak was a model of the painter and photographer George Breitner. She became known for the series of seven paintings that Breitner made of her in 1893 and 1894 as the girl in a red and white kimono lying on a sofa and standing in front of a mirror in an oriental interior.