A panorama of Rio de Janeiro on tour in Edinburgh

BURFORD, Robert.

Description of a View of the City of St. Sebastian, and the Bay of Rio Janeiro, Now Exhibiting in the New Rotunda, Mound. Painted by Robert Burford, Leicester Square, London, from Drawings Taken in 1823.
Edinburgh: Printed by T. Turnbull and Sons, 1830. Pamphlet, 8vo, later wrapper and case; letterpress title, pp.12, with folding wood-engraving, sheet 280 x 430mm.

Small tear in binding folds taped, slight ink offset. Case with the Brazil-themed bookplate of Joseph Sinclair Carolin.

An example of the programme accompanying an exhibition of a panorama of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, shown at the 'Rotunda', on The Mound, Edinburgh, in 1830. It contains the index plate for the view, with a 49-point key.
Of interest is '49 Lord Cochrane', showing Thomas Cochrane (1775-1860) in a longboat being rowed to his flagship, '47 Pedro Primero'. During the Napoleonic Wars, he was a naval commander of distinction, whose daring exploits earned him the nickname 'Sea Wolf' from Napoleon and inspired the fictional naval heroes Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubry. However he had been convicted of a stock market fraud (on circumstantial evidence) and had left England in disgrace. He turned his talents to the independence campaigns of the South American counties, first Chile and then Brazil. In 1823 Cochrane took command of the Imperial Brazilian Navy, driving the Portuguese from the country. Eventually Cochrane was pardoned for the fraud and he rejoined the Royal Navy.
Robert Burford (1791-1861) had worked with Henry Aston Barker (son of the artist Robert Barker who had coined the word 'panorama' in 1792), painting scenes for display in the 'Panorama', a purpose-built rotunda in Leicester Square. In 1823 a 'New Rotunda' was built on Edinburgh's Mount, next to the Scottish National Gallery, to display the panoramas after their London run. It was demolished in 1850.
This panorama had been exhibited in London in 1827.


Stock ID : 23828