# Panorama "miles" in length? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 4, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166 "2011-04-04T17:14:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LivingInThePast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@LivingInThePast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingInThePast)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166/1 "2011-04-04T17:14:42Z")
In the classic column on “[-arama](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/492/where-does-the-suffix-arama-as-in-foodarama-come-from),” Cecil claims that Ripley’s claims that Robert “Barker’s paintings were … up to three miles long…” For a period spanning the 1790s, I think this is a bit far-fetched. How long might it take, even with several artists working in unison, to paint a 3-mile-long mural without the benefit of spray paints? Why did Cecil present such an unlikely “fact” without really questioning it? The sources immediately available via Google suggest 300 feet as the length of the large panoramas (at 10,000 square feet), which appear to have taken several months to paint. This figure seems to be roughly based on the 90-foot diameter of the panorama building in which the art was displayed. See [this interesting nearly contemporaneous account](http://books.google.com/books?id=dI1CAAAAcAAJ&lpg=PA47&ots=m8A3tj5LfK&dq=%22robert%20barker%22%20panorama%20long&pg=PA47#v=onepage&q=%22robert%20barker%22%20panorama%20long&f=false). Perhaps someone else painted a panorama 3 miles long, but it seems unlikely. Christo wasn’t around back then. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166/2 "2011-04-04T20:37:49Z")
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cecil, via Ripley, was confusing him with John Banvard, who advertised his as 3 miles. > [@](#): > > DESCRIPTION OF BANVARD’S PANORAMA OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, PAINTED ON THREE MILES OF CANVAS (1847) > JOHN BANVARD > > Exhibiting A View Of Country 1200 Miles In Length, Extending From The Mouth Of The Mississippi River To The City Of New Orleans; Being By Far The Largest Picture Ever Executed By Man. It wasn’t, though it was a [half-mile](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Banvard). > [@](#): > > John Banvard (November 15, 1815 – May 16, 1891) was a U.S. panorama and portrait painter known for his panoramic views of the Mississippi River Valley… > > In 1840 he began to paint large panoramas of the whole Mississippi River valley. He traveled through the area in a boat, made preliminary drawings and supported himself with paintings and hunting. He combined the preliminary sketches and transferred them to a canvas in a building erected for this purpose in Louisville, Kentucky. His largest panorama began as 12 feet (3,6 m) high and 1300 feet (369 m) long and was eventually expanded to about half a mile (about 800 meters) although it was advertised as a “three-mile canvas”. It toured around the nation, and was eventually cut up in to hundreds of pieces, none of which still exist today. ---
**Author:** ![LivingInThePast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@LivingInThePast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingInThePast)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166/3 "2011-04-04T22:26:37Z")
Very interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166/4 "2011-04-05T13:47:28Z")
From the Mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans isn’t 1200 miles anyway. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panorama-miles-in-length/577166/5 "2011-04-05T14:04:42Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > From the Mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans isn’t 1200 miles anyway. > ] Depends which route you take. 😉