Continuous 360° View of Messina, Sicily Advertisement printed for an exhibit in the Great Rotunda of the Panorama, Leister Square
London: J. Adlard, Printer, Duke-Street, Smithfield, [1811]. Item #1294 Broadsheet. 405 x 330 mm., [16 x 13 inches]. Woodblock print, of which the central and principal image is about 260 mm [10 ¼ inches) in diameter. Near Fine: printed on blue-gray laid rag paper, remarkably unsoiled and still very solid, even with its longstanding folds.
The full title of the image read in entirety, “Explanation of the beautiful view of Messina, in Sicily: Taken from the Light House, and painted upon 10,000 Square Feet of Canvas by Henry Aston Barker, now exhibiting in the great Rotunda of the Panorama, Leicester Square. The upper circle contains an interesting view of the Siege of Flushing, the town in flames, &c.”
Keys to the features of Messina shown in this fish-eye view are included in central pie-segments of the circle. A prose explanation at the top of the sheet addresses Messina in general, another at the bottom summarizes an 1810 skirmish between victorious Brits and cowardly Frenchmen, one of countless such episodes during various phases of the Napoleonic Wars. The “Flushing” in question is actually the Dutch town of Vlissingen, of interest as a major port.
Even with the normally oriented prose captions, the central circular image proper has no top or bottom, and must be turned and turned to read all its information—information intended, on the whole, to reinforce Londoners’ fervor again the Continental villains.
Price: $120.00