The London Colosseum was a building to the east of Regent's Park, London. It was built in 1827 to exhibit Thomas Hornor's "Panoramic view of London", the largest painting ever created.
The design of the Colosseum was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. It was demolished in 1875.
The Colosseum was a venture of English artist and surveyor, Thomas Hornor, built to exhibit a vast panoramic view of London. The panorama was based on drawings Hornor had made from the vantage point of a temporary hut placed at the top of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, while the cross and ball were being replaced in 1821–2. Initial plans to sell panoramic views came to nothing, but an elaborate scheme to create a 360-degree panorama on the inside of a dome of the Colosseum, specially built in Regents Park (and resembling the Roman Pantheon rather than the Roman Colosseum), came to fruition, but at such expense that its principal backer, Rowland Stephenson MP, had to flee to America in 1828, soon followed by Hornor.
The Colosseum was built on the east side of Regent's Park, between Chester Terrace and Cambridge Terrace. Designed by Decimus Burton, with the assistance of John Young [1] it was in the form of a sixteen-sided domed polygon, with a Doric portico. It was built of brick rendered with cement in imitation of stone. [2] [3] [4] [5]
On 12 December 1825, E. T. Parris started work on the panorama, which was based on Hornor's own drawings from the upper part of St. Paul's Cathedral. The project would involve great artistic as well as technical and mechanical challenges for the artist. [6]
By means of squares, Parris began to draw the outlines in chalk, on a scale 16-times larger each way, or, in other words, 256-times the area of the original drawings. This was a work of much labour, and demanding close attention; but it was, nevertheless, completed by the following April. The painting (in oil) was then started. Hornor engaged several artists to assist Parris in the undertaking, but progress was slow and unsatisfactory due to their unfamiliarity with the type of work required. There were also problems of consistency of colour, composition etc.,and on several occasions it was necessary to repaint sections. Eventually, Parris decided to take charge and do the whole thing himself with the assistance of several house-painters; this proved to be the right choice. [6]
In addition to the problem of the sheer volume of the canvas, there was also the difficulty of access. This is where Parris's mechanical ingenuity came into its own; he devised all kinds of light scaffoldings, bridges, and platforms. Sometimes he was supported from the floor by two or three long and slender spars, which vibrated with every motion of his arm; sometimes he was suspended by cords from the roof. On two occasions Parris fell from a considerable height; fortunately, in neither case did he suffer any serious injury. [6]
The panorama was completed in November 1829, after a period of 4 years. The painting was the largest ever created, totalling over forty thousand square feet in area, and a testament to Parris's great artistic skill, talent, and perseverance. [6]
Hornor fell into financial difficulties and the property passed into the hands of trustees. It went into decline as a place of public amusement, and in May 1843 it was sold for 23,000 guineas. It was remodelled by William Bradwell, former chief machinist of the Covent Garden Theatre, who added an eastern entrance in Albany Street, and an arched corridor inspired by one at the Vatican.
The new owners announced a "Glypoteca, or Museum of Sculpture", displaying more than 180 works by leading sculptors. Instead of calico draperies "which had the appearance of a tent hastily fitted up for some temporary purpose", the visitor was promised " a lofty dome, of several thousand feet of richly cut glass." The frieze of the Glypoteca was decorated with a copy of the Panathenaic procession from the Parthenon, modelled by Mr Henning, Jr, above which were twenty allegorical fresco paintings by Mr. Absalom. The staircase leading up to the panorama was now disguised by a framework hung with "handsome and classically disposed drapery". Around it were velvet-covered seats raised on a dais, separated by groups of Cupid and Psyche, bearing candelabra in the form of palm trees. The lift, described in the brochure as "the Ascending Room", capable of containing ten or twelve persons, which is raised by secret machinery" was now decorated in the Elizabethan style, and illuminated by stained glass windows.
E.T. Parris repainted "The Grand Panorama of London" for the reopening in 1845, adding detail impossible in the limited time before the original opening.
The conservatories were now decorated in the "arabesque" style, with, in their centre, the "Gothic Aviary". Meanwhile, an "Exterior Promenade" provided pastiches of classical ruins; "A secondary object has been to shew how much effect may be produced in a most limited space, and with apparently the most limited materials" the brochure told visitors.
Another attraction was the "Chalet or Swiss Cottage" from the window of which the visitor could look at real waterfalls, against the background of the Mer de Glace and Mont Blanc, as painted by Mr Danson. There was also a "Stalactite Cavern", constructed by Bradwell and Telbin, based on one at Adelsberg in Germany. [7]
In the evenings, another panorama of London, from the same point of view of was placed in front of E.T. Parris's version. Painted by Danson and Telbin, light effects projected by William Bradwell were intended to provide a realistic vision of the city at night. A nocturnal panorama of Paris was shown from 1848, and a panorama of the lake of Thun, in Switzerland in 1850. A lavishly decorated theatre was added in 1848, which showed a ten scene cyclorama of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
In 1855, the Colosseum, with the Cyclorama was put up for auction. The highest bid, for a building on which around £200,000 had been spent, was £20,000. [4] According to a history published in 1878, [8]
"the building afterwards passed into several hands, and ultimately it was purchased by a small number of gentlemen, with the idea of erecting there a grand hotel; but this idea was abandoned. Subsequently the lease was purchased by a Mr. Bird, and the walls were levelled to the ground, as stated above, with the view of erecting on its site a number of private residences."
After demolition of the buildings in 1875, the area was vacant until the Cambridge Gate was built in 1876 to 1880. [9]
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.
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.
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.
The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum was a Civil War museum located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its most noted attraction was the Atlanta Cyclorama, a cylindrical panoramic painting of the Battle of Atlanta. As of December 2021, the Cyclorama is located at the Atlanta History Center, while the building is now Zoo Atlanta's Savanna Hall.
A cosmorama is an exhibition of perspective pictures of different places in the world, usually world landmarks. Careful use of illumination and lenses gives the images greater realism.
Panorama Mesdag is a panorama by Hendrik Willem Mesdag. Housed in a purpose-built museum in The Hague, the panorama is a cylindrical painting more than 14 metres high and about 40 metres in diameter. 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.
The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
Paul Dominique Philippoteaux was a French artist. He is best known for a cyclorama illustrating the Battle of Gettysburg.
Robert Barker was a famous painter from Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland.
The Cyclorama Building is an 1884 building in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts that is operated by the Boston Center for the Arts.
Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux was a French artist and illustrator, known primarily as a battle painter.
Thomas Hornor (1785–1844) was an English land surveyor, artist, and inventor.
The Arrival of the Hungarians is a large cyclorama – a circular panoramic painting – by Hungarian painter Árpád Feszty and his assistants, depicting the beginning of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895.
The Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park is an open-air museum of Hungarian history in Ópusztaszer, Hungary. It was established in 1982 and is most famous for being the location of the Feszty Panorama, a cyclorama by Árpád Feszty and his assistants, depicting the beginning of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. The painting was completed in 1894 for the 1000th anniversary of the event. The park is also home to various indoor and outdoor exhibits, focusing on the archaeological and ethnographic history of ancient and early-modern Hungary in an immersive and engaging manner.
Edmund Thomas Parris was an English history, portrait, subject, and panorama painter, book illustrator, designer and art restorer. He was appointed history painter to Queen Adelaide, Queen Consort of William IV, and painted Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838 and the Duke of Wellington's funeral in 1852. He supervised the painting of the huge panorama in the London Colosseum in Regent's Park, London, and was the inventor of "Parris's medium".
The Dresden Panometer is an attraction in Dresden, Germany. It is a venue displaying one of two panoramic paintings of Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi inside a former gasometer, accompanied by an exhibition. One of the two panoramas, Baroque Dresden depicts Dresden as it might have appeared in 1756, the other, Dresden 1945 shows the city after it was destroyed during World War II. The Panometer was created in 2006 by Asisi, who coined the name as a portmanteau of "panorama" and "gasometer". In 2003 he had opened a Panometer in Leipzig.
The Holme is a mansion located on Inner Circle by Regent's Park in the City of Westminster, London, England. It was designed by Decimus Burton, as a residence for the Burton family, and built in 1818, by the company of James Burton, who subsequently lived there. It has been described as 'one of the most desirable private homes in London' by architectural scholar Guy Williams. Architectural critic Ian Nairn wrote of the house, "If you want a definition of western civilization in a single view, then here it is".
The Panorama 1453 Historical Museum is a historical museum in Istanbul that opened on 31 January 2009.
The Velaslavasay Panorama is an exhibition hall, theatre and gardens in Los Angeles, California, featuring the only painted, 360-degree panorama created in the United States since the nineteenth century. The Velaslavasay Panorama was originally established by artist Sara Velas in 2000 at the Tswuun-Tswuun Rotunda on Hollywood Boulevard. The museum's name combines Velas' last name with her mother's maiden name, Asay. In 2004, its original venue threatened with demolition, the panorama moved to its present location at the Union Theatre in Historical West Adams.
The Rotunda was a building that stood in City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City, from 1818 to 1870.
