By the aid of Mr. Burford's panoramic pencil, the sight-hunter of our
times may enjoy a kind of imaginary tour through the world. At one
season he wafts us to the balmy climes of India--next he astounds us
with the icy sublimities of the Pole (a fine summer panorama, by the
way)--then to the glittering spires, minarets, and mosques of
Constantinople--then to the infant world of New Holland--and back to the
Old World, to enjoy scenes and sites which are hallowed in memory's fond
shrine, by their association with the most glorious names and events in
our history. We remember the philosophical amusement of the great Lord
Shaftesbury, in contriving _all the world in an acre_ in his retreat at
Reigate: what his Lordship laboured to represent in his garden, Mr.
Burford essays in his panoramas--in short, he gives us all the world on
an acre--of canvass.
Reader, we do not hold the grand secret of life to be the art of
hoaxing, when we tell you that for a Greenwich fare you may be
transported to the classic regions of Italy--that a walk to Leicester
Square will probably delight you more than a ride to Greenwich, little
as we are inclined to underrate the last of the pleasures of the people.
The contrast is forcible, and the intellectual advantage to be enjoyed
in the metropolis too evident to be overlooked.
At the Panorama, _Florence_ is in the upper circle, and _Milan_ in the
lower one. The main attraction of the latter is the celebrated
cathedral, which forms, as it were, the nucleus of the scene. The point
of view has been objected to, as the spectator is placed about mid-way
up the cathedral, and thus looks down into the streets and squares of
the city; but, it should be remembered, that he also enjoys the distant
country, which he could not have done had the view been from the area of
the city; and, as we have before said, the beauty of the _paysage_ is
one of the perfections of Mr. Burford's paintings. Its present success
may be told from the _Description:_
"Beyond, the eye ranges to an immense distance over the rich and fertile
plains of Lombardy, Piedmont, and the Venetian States, luxuriant with
every description of rural beauty, intersected by rivers and lakes, and
thickly studded with towns and villages, with their attendant gardens,
groves, and vineyards. The Northern horizon, from East to West, is
bounded by the vast chain of the Alps, which form a magnificent
semicircle at from eighty to one hundred and twenty miles distant, Monte
Rosa, Monte Cenis, Monte St. Gothard, the Simplon, &c. covered with
eternal snow, being conspicuous from their towering height; towards the
South the view is bounded by the Apennines, extending across the
peninsula from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic; and on the South-west,
the Piedmontese hills, in the neighbourhood of Turin, appear a faint
purple line on the horizon, so small as to be scarcely visible; the
purity of the atmosphere enables the eye to discern the most distant
objects with accuracy, and the brilliant sunshine gives inconceivable
splendour to every part of the scene; each antique spire and
curiously-wrought tower sparkles brightly in its beams, whilst the dark
foliage of fine trees, even in the heart of the city, relieves the eye,
and produces a beautiful and pleasing effect."
The cathedral will be recollected as the finest specimen extant of
pointed Gothic architecture, and termed by the Milanese, the eighth
wonder of the world. It is entirely of white marble, and its highest
point four hundred feet from the base. A better idea of its minute as
well as vast beauty will be afforded by the reader turning to our
engraving of the exterior in vol. xiv. of _The Mirror_. It is
successfully painted in the Panorama, although it has not the dazzling
whiteness that a stranger might expect; and, on it are those beautiful
tinges which are thought to be shed by the atmosphere upon buildings of
any considerable age. This effect is visible ever in the fine climate of
Italy: it is ingeniously referred to by Sir Humphry Davy in his last
work[6] to the chemical agency of water. He speaks, however, rather of
the _decay_ produced by water, of which _tinge_ is but the first stage.
The latter is very pleasing, and, about two years since, the fine
portico of the Colosseum, in the Regent's Park, was artificially
coloured to produce this effect of _time_, as it has been poetically
considered.
[6] "Consolations in Travel, or the Last Days of a Philosopher."
1830.
The City of Milan is not particularly interesting, though to an
untravelled beholder, it has points of attraction. He may probably be
struck with the vast extent of some of the structures when compared with
the puny buildings of our own country and times; and the space occupied
by the palaces will but remind him of the mistaken magnificence of
Buckingham, or the gloomy grandeur of St. James's. Again, the plastered
and fancifully coloured fronts of the dwelling-houses, their gay
draperies, &c. but ill-assort with the heavy red-brick exteriors of our
metropolis; although this contrast is to be sought elsewhere than in
externals. Mr. Burford's summary, or characteristics of the city may be
quoted:
"The form of the city is nearly circular, about ten miles in
circumference, although perhaps the thickly built and more densely
populated part may be confined to an area of half that size. There are
several large and handsome squares, but the streets, with very few
exceptions, are neither wide nor regular; the pavement is formed like
that of Paris, of small, sharp pebbles, with occasionally a narrow
footway on each side, and the addition of two (or in the wider streets
four) strips of flat stones in the centre, forming a sort of railway, on
which the carriage wheels run with great smoothness and very little
noise. The churches, hospitals, establishments for the poor, and other
public institutions, are numerous, and display all the richness and
magnificence of Italian architecture, and are at the same time endowed
on a most liberal scale; the ancient palaces of the nobles, vast and
rude, bear stamp of the importance of the city in the middle ages, when
they served as domestic fortresses and lodged well-appointed and
numerous retinues; and although they cannot at present vie with those of
Rome or Genoa, yet they display considerable architectural luxury, and
contain fine collections of works of art; attached to many are large and
well-stocked gardens, which add much to the beauty of the city. Very
little regard is paid to regularity of appearance in the general
buildings; they vary in height from two to five stories, and are built
of brick, or granite from the Lago Maggiori, plastered, coloured, or
ornamented, according to the taste of the owner; many are still without
the luxury of glass in the windows; the shops are numerous and well
furnished; their entrances, as well as those of the coffee-houses, are
frequently defended only by a coloured drapery, which, with the silk
tapestry hung at the church doors, and occasionally from the balconies,
&c., has a gay and pleasing effect; indeed the whole appearance of the
city is cheerful and flourishing."
The groupes and incidents in the streets will amuse the spectator. There
is _Policinel_--the eternal Punch--with his audience, a short distance
from the Cathedral. All over Europe, the most enlightened portion of the
world, is this little _Motley_ to be seen frolicking with flashes of
satire; the motto for his proscenium should be _hic et ubique_.
One of the beauties of this Panorama is the masterly effect of _the
Italian_ sky. There are fewer cloudless days in Italy than the stranger
may imagine, but Mr. Burford was fortunate in his season.
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