19th CENTURY PAINTED BOURBAKI PANORAMA
BOURBAKI PANORAMA IN LUZERN, SWITZERLAND
by Michelle Bienias
Although many are now familiar with VR tours or panoramas, you may not be familiar with their historical predecessor – the painted panorama.
 
“Panorama” is derived from Greek and means to “see all”. The Scottish artist Robert Blake is credited with first conceiving the idea of painting a 360-degree vista in a circular fashion in 1787, while walking in the outskirts of Edinburgh. Although the initial reception to his panoramas was lukewarm, he soon hit upon the idea of showing them in a rotunda-shaped building and their popularity took off.
Panoramas reached the height of their appeal in the early 19th century, when special buildings were constructed to hold these circular paintings that attracted crowds of patrons. Cities such as Rome, Paris, London and Geneva boasted panoramas of their locales, many of which can now be found in art museums. Panoramas would make their appearance in America, where they would become one of the most popular forms of public entertainment, in the mid-1800s.
Later, the Napoleonic wars became a popular theme and extreme care and effort were taken to ensure accurate representation of topographical details and minor scenes, with artists dispatched to the scene of the battle and veterans interviewed. The painting of these panoramas was no small affair but entailed a master artist who directed teams of other artists who specialized in landscapes, buildings, people and skies. These panoramas were so accurate that veterans often brought their families to the panorama exhibit to show them the exact point where they had stood in battle.
The Bourbaki Museum in Luzern Switzerland houses Edourard Castres’ circular painting depicting the hopeless situation of a defeated army that has fled to the Swiss border during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. France's Eastern Army, under the command of General Bourbaki, is giving up its arms at Les Verrieres in Switzerland in February 1871.
The Franco-Prussian war lasted from July 1870 to February 1871, ending with the defeat of the French Army. General Bourbaki’s army represented France’s last reserve and was no match for the technologically advanced German army. Bourbaki attempted suicide and his army of 87,000 surrendered and crossed the border, where the Swiss gave them a warm welcome.
The panorama, completed over several months in 1881, is over 1000 square meters. The original dimensions corresponded to the panorama standard at the time of about 14 meters in height with a circumference of 114 meters, but adjustments over the years have shaved over four meters from the panorama’s height. Beginning in the 1830s, panoramas were often enhanced with a faux-terrain of three-dimensional figures and props; the Bourbaki panorama has over 20 figures, a railroad car, scattered army and background sound that bring it to life.
Beneath the panorama-viewing platform one can find information on the Franco-Prussian War, the Bourbaki army and the panorama, as well as objects and pictures from the Bourbaki era. For instance, Edourard Castres, was an artist from Genoa who had also been a Red Cross volunteer accompanying General Bourbaki’s French Eastern Army throughout the last stages of the Prussian War. He, together with a team of painters, completed the painting over five months in 1881, in Geneva; it was transferred to Luzern in 1889.
Museum Info:
Website, in both English and German: The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Email: info@bourbakipanorama.ch
(Extensive renovations and restoration work has been ongoing since 1996.)
Much of the information on panoramas in this article was taken from the informative ‘Antiquarian Notebook’ by: ANTHONY DOUIN
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