Coloured Panorama of Edinburgh

Robert Barker was an Irish artist credited with the invention of the concept of “panorama”. His first panorama was a view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill displayed in Edinburgh in 1788. This is a small, watercolour version of this first full panorama. Its purpose is unclear, but it is related to a set of engravings published two years earlier. It depicts Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury’s Crags, Old Town and Edinburgh Castle, New town, what would later become Leith Walk, and Leith in the distance.

University of Edinburgh, Rare Books Collections: Coll-1709