American Panorama, Illustrating the Pacific Railway from New York to San Francisco

Hardy Gillard
“Go and See Hardy Gillard's Great American Panorama, Illustrating the Pacific Railway from New York to San Francisco”
London: c. 1870 - 1880
Chromolithograph
19 ½" x 39 ¼" framed
$8,500

Panoramas were a popular form of entertainment in the late 19th century. Panoramas were sometimes in wagons, and moved from town to town; or large enough to be mounted in a theater, with the audience moving around the panorama scene. Popular panoramas of the time were made of the palaces of Versailles (currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Civil Ware battlefields. Hardy Gillard was famous at the time for his traveling panoramas and his accompanying exuberant lectures. This flier was for Hardy Gillards 40 x 8 foot Panorama Illustrating the Pacific Railway from New York to San Francisco, the Grand Pacific Railway that was completed in 1869. A key is offered to the 38 numbered items in the large sized display, including the steamship Oceanie, farming in Nebraska, Great Salt Lake, Big Trees of California, Gold Mining in California and San Francisco.