Prints

Description of a view of the Island and Bay of Hong Kong; now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square. Painted by the proprietor, Robert Burford ; the figures by H.C. Selous ; from drawings, taken by Lieut. F.J. White, Royal Marines, in 1843. London : printed by Alfred Dod (late Mitchell & Co.), Rupert Street, Haymarket, 1844.

Robert Burford (1791-1861) was a professional panorama painter and Royal Academician. His Panorama, which occupied premises first in the Strand and later in Leicester Square, was one of London's best known attractions of the late Georgian and early Victorian eras. He is known to have produced at least thirty-one panoramic views, for each one of which a handbook of similar format was printed. Along with Hong Kong the subjects of Burford's other panoramas included Canton, Nanking, Macao, Cabul, Constantinople, Benares, New York, the Colisseum and the Battle of Waterloo.

Mr. BURFORD feels it his duty to state, as an erroneous impression is  entertained by some portion of the Public, that the Panoramic  Views are a species of scene-painting, coloured in distemper, or  other inferior manner, that such is not the case — that th-ey are  all painted in the finest oil, colour, and varnish, that can be  procured ; and in the same manner as a gallery picture.      Reference  JISC - Library Hub Discover, records 3 copies at the British Library, University of Leeds and SOAS.  Orange, James   The Chater Collection,1924, Section VIII - Hong Kong,No.15 page 355.  The Times, March 26, 1844, has a long article on the opening that day of the Panorama painted by Mr Burford. "The subject or pictorial representation of the island is one which, even if it were badly treated, would be of sufficient interest to bring a crowd of persons to behold it:  but it is not badly treated; it is amongst the very best of the panoramic pictures which Mr Burford has painted;..... The scenery consists of rocks, or rather mountains of granite and sandstone, a river, and here and there a house or houses. All these are represented with truth;  the rocks are rugged and inhospitable, the river is bright and transparent, and the houses  are in the abstract, but little picturesque, but the artist has nevertheless made a good picture of these seemingly intractable materials.  He has also introduced English men-of-war, Chinese junks, fishing boats and so forth, and all these float so buoyantly upon the waters, that the scene is pleasing and even refreshing to the eye. The contrast of the British and Chinese marine, the variety of costume,  and many minor details, relieve the general aspect of the picture, and please as well as instruct. As a correct representation of the actual place, the picture is said by those qualified to judge to be valuable for its truth. It is at once a picture and a map."  

Framed  An exceedingly rare early panorama of Hong Kong.   

P6013.  Chater VIII.15