PAN'ORA'MA (from the Greek word say, all, and b'pap.a, a view), a picture showing a view completely around the spectator. This in gimlets. pictorial coutit.enee eras first devised by an English artist, Robert Harker. about the year 1;91: and Is not so much a new moda of palettes—the pr erns itself being similar to scone-painting I or slastreiptr—ado • novel application of it. Contrary to the diorama Wiosianal, the panorama forms the 'surface of a hollow cylinder, or rotunda fishmeal it is frequently called in Comma Ralslgrmr1'fJs or Ilsediela.—eyclorarnal, in the centre of which is a detached circular platferm for the spectators, covered overhead to conceal the skylight, and thereby increase the illusion and giro greater effect to the painting itself. The latter is not painted on the walls, but upon canvas, like the scenes of a theatre, seed afterwards fixed up, In order that the views may be changed, and a frosh one may he in progress while another is open for exhibition. Yet although there is nothing whatever particular in regard to the execution or process of such pictures, they are attended with difficulties which out be mastered only by practice and rs erldraCO. The first of these arises from the circumstance that the artist cannot either conosutmte his light or adapt the direction of It arbitrarily as beet suits his purpose, but while portions of his view_ will be entirely In sunshine, the opposite one will be almost a mans of shadow; the leveed is the difficulty of representing on a curved surface the straight horizontal lines of buildings; the third and greatest of all is, that there can be no single fixed point of sight, since the eye traverses around the whole circle of the horizon. Hance it
might be supposed that many parts of such a picture would appear, if not quite distorted, more or less ont of perspective. Vet such is not the case, no doubt partly because the eye accommodates itself certain principal points fixed upon by the artist es centre of vision, and on amount of the optical fascination attending the whole. The subjects general) y chosen are views of cities, or interesting sites, whose entire locality and buildings may thus be vividly placed before the eye lo a manner no less instructive than it is Interesting.
Among the largest panoramas hitherto attempted was the view of London by day, and of Paris by night, at the Colosseum in the Regent's Park. An improvement on this sort of panorama, Is what is styled the moving panorama. This, which is also painted on canvas, by being wound on and off a cylinder, has been used to depict a con tinuous extent of scenery of many thousands of miles. Such were the panoramas of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and many others.