The town of London has impressed many stunning panoramic maps over the centuries, every lovingly crafted by gifted artists. Apparently, these panoramas virtually at all times share a typical perspective – north from the south facet of the River Thames. This similar viewpoint is utilized in Frederick James Smyth’s 1844 Panorama of London.
Exeter College’s Digital Humanities Lab has created an interactive guided tour of Smyth’s Panorama of London. Utilizing Knight Lab’s StoryMap.js platform, the mission gives a wealthy, navigable journey by way of Nineteenth-century London as captured in one of many period’s most visually placing city illustrations.
Initially commissioned by the Illustrated London Information and first revealed in 1845, Smyth’s panorama is a outstanding feat of Victorian printmaking. Stretching over eight toes in size, it presents an in depth fowl’s-eye view of town from a south-of-the-Thames vantage level.
Exeter College’s story-map guides viewers by way of a few of 1844 London’s most outstanding landmarks. These embrace long-lost websites corresponding to Millbank Penitentiary (the place convicts have been held earlier than deportation to Australia) and the Hungerford Suspension Bridge. It additionally options acquainted icons that stay central to town immediately, together with St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Homes of Parliament, and Buckingham Palace, to call just some.
Extra classic panoramas of London:
1543 – The Wyngaerde Panorama
1616 – Claes Jansz Visscher’s Panorama (1848 copy)
1829 – View of London from the Adelphi
