Guerre spettacolari: i panorami militari nell'Europa del lungo Ottocento (1793-1912)

The doctoral thesis reconstructs and demonstrates the pervasiveness and omnipresence of war in 19th-century Europe through the study of military “panoramania”. Invented in 1787 by Robert Barker, the panorama is a huge circular painting depicting an exotic landscape, an urban view or a historical military event. From 1820 onwards, this fixed format was joined by a mobile format, consisting of a long canvas unrolled between two rollers while a lecturer commented on the scenes to the audience. The project aims to identify and study the military panoramas produced and distributed in Europe from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, in the countries where military panoramas were most successful: France in particular, but also England, Belgium, German Empire and Italy.