Jump to content

Bourbaki Panorama: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
format ref
Line 6: Line 6:


== Background ==
== Background ==
The subject of the painting is the movement of French General [[Charles-Denis Bourbaki]]'s [[Armée de l'Est]] to neutral Switzerland in February 1871, towards the end of the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Bourbaki's army had been defeated during the 15-17 January [[Battle of the Lisaine]], whilst unsuccessfully attempting to relieve the Prussian [[Siege of Belfort]]. Bourbaki's army was granted asylum on the provision that they lay down their arms and enter internment. Some 88,000 men marched into Switzerland via [[Les Verrières]], abandoning 11,000 horses, 1,150 wagons, 285 artillery pieces, 7,200 rifles and 64,000 bayonets. The wounded received care from the Swiss Red Cross and local villagers.<ref name=comment/> The interned men were released back to France after six weeks.<ref>{{cite book |page=808 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Law_of_Armed_Conflict_and_the_Use_of/boWuDQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
The subject of the painting is the movement of French General [[Charles-Denis Bourbaki]]'s [[Armée de l'Est]] to neutral Switzerland in February 1871, towards the end of the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. Bourbaki's army had been defeated during the 15-17 January [[Battle of the Lisaine]], whilst unsuccessfully attempting to relieve the Prussian [[Siege of Belfort]]. Bourbaki's army was granted asylum on the provision that they lay down their arms and enter internment. Some 88,000 men marched into Switzerland via [[Les Verrières]], abandoning 11,000 horses, 1,150 wagons, 285 artillery pieces, 7,200 rifles and 64,000 bayonets. The wounded received care from the Swiss Red Cross and local villagers.<ref name=comment/> The interned men were released back to France after six weeks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lachenmann|first1=Frauke|last2=Wolfrum|first2=Rüdiger |page=808 |title=The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force
|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Law_of_Armed_Conflict_and_the_Use_of/boWuDQAAQBAJ}}</ref>


== Painting ==
== Painting ==

Revision as of 08:01, 15 October 2021

Panorama building
Detail showing the piling of arms
3D foreground figures
The meeting of the generals

The Bourbaki Panorama is a circular panoramic painting

Background

The subject of the painting is the movement of French General Charles-Denis Bourbaki's Armée de l'Est to neutral Switzerland in February 1871, towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Bourbaki's army had been defeated during the 15-17 January Battle of the Lisaine, whilst unsuccessfully attempting to relieve the Prussian Siege of Belfort. Bourbaki's army was granted asylum on the provision that they lay down their arms and enter internment. Some 88,000 men marched into Switzerland via Les Verrières, abandoning 11,000 horses, 1,150 wagons, 285 artillery pieces, 7,200 rifles and 64,000 bayonets. The wounded received care from the Swiss Red Cross and local villagers.[1] The interned men were released back to France after six weeks.[2]

Painting

Measures 980 by 11,500 centimetres (32.2 ft × 377.3 ft). Oil on canvas. Its focus is the meeting of General Justin Clinchant (to whom Bourbaki had given command of the French army) and teh Swiss General Hans Herzog in front of the Hôtel Fédéral. It was completed in 1881 and exhibted for several years in Geneva. Transgerred to Lucerne in 1889 into a rotunda built for a panorama of the 1386 Battle of Sempach by Louis Braun. Braun never completed his commission. The canvas was twice cut down in the 20th century, losing a third of its heught and flattening its sky, which was originally higher and more open. Under restoration from 1977.The panorama depicts the tragic aspects of war, rather than the usual celebration of victory, it also celebrates Swiss neutrality and hospitality. Edouard Castres (1833-1902) spent the winter of 1876-77 at Verrières to ensure he captured the landscape accurately. The work depicts a column of French infantrymen and the Swiss Bernese battalion. Rail lines and a road serve as axes of perspective. [1]

Painted by a team of artists that included Ferdinand Hodler.[3]

Regarded as one of Lucerne's greatest artworks. One of few surviving circular paintings in the world. Three dimensional foreground objects create the illusion of depth. Was a sensation for the late 19th-century. [4]

Visited by thousands of people each year. An app has been developed that allows the panorama to be viewed in detail.[5]

Castres was a Swiss volunteer medical corspsman with the Armee de l'Est when it crossed into Switzerland. Shows wounded and tired Frenchmen trekking through a snow-covered valley to pile their weapons with aid being provided by the Red Cross and local residents.[6]

Foreground objects in three imensions include a railway carriage. [7]

Depicted by Jeff Wall's 1993 photograph Restoration, though it was not actually under restoration at the time and ateam of conservators were posed.[8]

"The IMAX theater of the 19th century". Many of the artists who helped create it remain uncredited. A recorded commentary is provided in English. The wooden rotunda is surrounded by a modern glass cube with shops, cinems and a restaurant.[9]

Castres was in Paris studying art when the war broke out and volunteered to serve in a medical capacity, he felt a duty as his ancestors had been French Hugenouts. He acquired a horse and cart and used it to ferry wounded fromt he battlefield to aid stations. Previously unknown, he achieved fame in the post-war years for his un-heroic depictions of the war. Bourbaki commissioned to produce the work in 1876 by the Belgium Panorama Society. The event was well known in Switzerland at the time and they also hoped to attract French visitors. Wanted to create a sense of atmosphere so chose to depict the panorama as if the viewer was within the scene, not looking upon it from high ground.[10]

A team of 10 painters completed the work over five months. Moved from Geneva to Lucerne by Benjamin Henneburg, who had purchased it from the original owners and exhibitors.[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bourbaki-Panorama.
  1. ^ a b Comment, Bernard (2002). The Panorama. Reaktion Books. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-86189-123-5.
  2. ^ Lachenmann, Frauke; Wolfrum, Rüdiger (2017). The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force. Oxford University Press. p. 808.
  3. ^ Comment, Bernard (2002). The Panorama. Reaktion Books. p. 215. ISBN 978-1-86189-123-5.
  4. ^ Duthel, Heinz (4 March 2019). Switzerland - Schweizer - Suisse - Svizzera. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 295. ISBN 978-3-7494-2812-0.
  5. ^ Wojdon, Joanna (8 February 2016). E-teaching History. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4438-8855-4.
  6. ^ Stafford, Barbara Maria; Terpak, Frances; Poggi, Isotta (2001). Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen. Getty Publications. p. 322. ISBN 978-0-89236-590-6.
  7. ^ Frey, Bruno S. (1 May 2021). Overcoming Overtourism: Creating Revived Originals. Springer Nature. p. 56. ISBN 978-3-030-63814-6.
  8. ^ Mieszkowski, Jan (22 August 2012). Watching War. Stanford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-8047-8501-3.
  9. ^ Guides, Fodor's Travel (31 March 2015). Fodor's Switzerland. Fodor's Travel. p. 386. ISBN 978-1-101-87872-9.
  10. ^ Wojdon, Joanna (8 February 2016). E-teaching History. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-4438-8855-4.
  11. ^ Wojdon, Joanna (8 February 2016). E-teaching History. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4438-8855-4.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bourbaki_Panorama&oldid=1050017022"