Robert Burford (painter)
Robert Burford was an English painter of panoramas.
Life
Burford was born in 1791 and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1812 with A View of Westminster Hall. In conjunction with fellow artist Henry Aston Barker, he opened a panorama on a site later occupied by the Strand Theatre. It was then moved to Leicester Square, where for many years it formed one of the chief attractions of London.Burford exhibited a succession of panoramas depicting major landmarks across Europe, all of which he personally visited in order to obtain accurate drawings. John Ruskin visited the exhibition as a boy, and spoke in high praise of Burford's abilities in his autobiography Praeterita.
Burford died at his home, 35 Camden Road Villas, Camden, London, on 30 January 1861, just after finishing a view of Naples and Messina.