The cycloramas are reminiscent of the painted panoramas of the second half of the nineteenth century and these examples are inspired by a ‘Cycloramique’ of Weymouth Bay from 1836 in the Dorset Museum. The uncoloured aquatint view of Weymouth Bay, attached to, and folding out from a portfolio measuring 21 x 26 cm is made of wood and board, and lined with marbled paper and consists of 12 sheets measuring 16 x 555 cm. It clearly displays castles, lighthouses, villages, rocks and caves.
These monochrome pictorial compositions of the Dorset Coast are cut into curved hardwood forms. This technique grew out of my interest in the intaglio techniques of wood engraving. Wood engraving diminished as etching and engraving became more widespread, until 1780, when Thomas Bewick (1750 – 1828) an artist from Northumberland, developed a method of engraving into hard blocks made of boxwood. He produced clean, fine white lies with incredible detail. This method revolutionized the use of illustrations for newspapers, books and advertisements.
Jeremy Gardiner
