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.
Panorama of a half section of Night Revels of Han Xizai, 12th century Song Dynasty painting
Panorama Along the River during the Qingming Festival, 18th copy of an original from the 12th century by Zhang Zeduan
Robert Mitchell's diagram illustrating the Leicester Square Rotunda, in which was exhibited the Panorama, 1801 (annotated adaptation)
Cross-section of the Rotunda in Leicester Square in which the panorama of London was exhibited (1801)
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.
Panorama of the inner courtyard of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia
"Vue circulaire des montagnes qu‘on decouvre du sommet du Glacier de Buet", from Horace-Benedict de Saussure, Voyage dans les Alpes, précédés d'un essai sur l'histoire naturelle des environs de Geneve. Neuchatel, 1779–96, pl. 8.
A panorama of London by Robert Barker, 1792
360-degree panorama picture of the center courtyard of the Sony Center at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. This picture was calculated from 126 individual photos using autostitch
