Diorama
Encyclopedia
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle modeling
Model military vehicle
-Scales:The term 'scale' refers to the proportion of actual size the replica or model represents. Scale is usually expressed as a ratio or as a fraction . In either case it conveys the notion that the replica or model is accurately scaled in all visible proportions from a full-size prototype object...

, miniature figure modeling
Model figure
A model figure is a scale model representing a human, monster or other creature. Human figures may be either a generic figure of a type , a historical personage , or a fictional character .Model figures are sold both as kits for enthusiast to construct and paint and as pre-built, pre-painted...

, or aircraft modeling.

Etymology

The word "diorama" originated in 1823 as a type of picture-viewing device, from the French in 1822. The word literally means "through that which is seen", from the Greek di- "through" + orama "that which is seen, a sight." The diorama was invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre  and De Dion-Bouton
De Dion-Bouton
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1932. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux....

, first exhibited in London September 29, 1823. The meaning "small-scale replica of a scene, etc" is from 1902.

The modern diorama

The current, popular understanding of the term "diorama" denotes a partially three-dimensional, full-size replica or scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

 of a landscape typically showing historical events, nature scenes or cityscapes, for purposes of education or entertainment.

Miniature dioramas are typically much smaller, and use scale models and landscaping to create historical or fictional scenes. Such a scale-model based diorama is used, for example, in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

 to display railroading
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

. This diorama employs a common model railroading
Rail transport modelling
Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale...

 scale of 1:87 (HO scale
HO scale
HO or H0 is the most popular scale of model railway in the world.According to the NMRA standard S-1.2 predominantly used in North America, in HO scale, represents 1 real foot ; this ratio works out to about 1:87.1. According to the MOROP standard NEM 010 predominantly used in Europe, the scale is...

). Hobbyist dioramas often use popular scales such as 1/35 or 1/48.

Sheperd Paine, a prominent hobbyist, popularized the modern miniature diorama beginning in the 1970s.

Full size dioramas

Modern museum dioramas may be seen in most major natural history museums. Typically, these displays use a tilted plane to represent what would otherwise be a level surface, incorporate a painted background of distant objects, and often employ false perspective, carefully modifying the scale of objects placed on the plane to reinforce the illusion
Illusion
An illusion is a distortion of the senses, revealing how the brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. While illusions distort reality, they are generally shared by most people....

 through depth perception
Depth perception
Depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions and the distance of an object. Depth sensation is the ability to move accurately, or to respond consistently, based on the distances of objects in an environment....

 in which objects of identical real-world size placed farther from the observer appear smaller than those closer. Often the distant painted background or sky will be painted upon a continuous curved surface so that the viewer is not distracted by corners, seams, or edges. All of these techniques are means of presenting a realistic view of a large scene in a compact space. A photograph or single-eye view of such a diorama can be especially convincing since in this case there is no distraction by the binocular perception
Binocular disparity
Binocular disparity refers to the difference in image location of an object seen by the left and right eyes, resulting from the eyes' horizontal separation. The brain uses binocular disparity to extract depth information from the two-dimensional retinal images in stereopsis...

 of depth.

Carl Akeley
Carl Akeley
Carl Ethan Akeley was a taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History...

, a naturalist, sculptor, and taxidermist, is credited with creating the first ever habitat diorama in the year 1889. Akeley's diorama featured taxidermied beavers in a three-dimensional habitat with a realistic, painted background. With the support of curator Frank M. Chapman, Akeley designed the popular habitat dioramas featured at the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

. Combining art with science, these exhibitions were intended to educate the public about the growing need for habitat conservation
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...

.

Miniature dioramas

Miniature dioramas may be used to represent scenes from historic events. A typical example of this type are the dioramas to be seen at Norway's Resistance Museum
Norway's Resistance Museum
Norway's Resistance Museum also known as the Norwegian Home Front Museum is a museum located at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo.The museum collection focuses on Norwegian resistance during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945. The museum displays equipment, photos and documents...

 in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

Landscapes built around model railways can also be considered dioramas, even though they often have to compromise scale accuracy for better operating characteristics.

Hobbyists also build dioramas of historical or quasi-historical events using a variety of materials, including plastic model
Plastic model
thumb|300px||4-year-old boy starts painting a plastic model he has assembled of the South Goodwin LightshipPlastic models, often called scale models, are models manufactured as kits which are assembled by hobbyists, and intended for static display....

s of military vehicles, ships or other equipment, along with scale figures and landscaping.

In the 19th and beginning 20th century, building dioramas of sailing ships had been a popular handcraft of seamen. Building a diorama instead of a normal model had the advantage that the model was protected inside the frame and it could easily be stowed below the bunk or behind the sea chest. Nowadays, such antique sailing ship dioramas are valuable collectors' items.

One of the largest Dioramas ever created was a model of the entire state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 built for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 and that for a long time was installed in San Francisco's
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 Ferry Building
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...

.

The Daguerre Dioramas

The Diorama was a popular entertainment that originated in Paris in 1822. An alternative to the also popular "Panorama" (panoramic painting
Panoramic painting
Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th Century in Europe and the United States, inciting opposition from writers of Romantic poetry...

), the Diorama was a theatrical experience viewed by an audience in a highly specialized theatre. As many as 350 patrons would file in to view a landscape painting that would change its appearance both subtly and dramatically. Most would stand, though limited seating was provided. The show lasted 10 to 15 minutes, after which time the entire audience (on a massive turntable) would rotate to view a second painting. Later models of the Diorama theater even held a third painting.

The size of the proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...

 was 24 feet (7.3 m) wide by 21 feet (6.4 m) high (7.3 meters x 6.4 meters). Each scene was hand-painted on linen, which was made transparent in selected areas. A series of these multi-layered, linen panels were arranged in a deep, truncated tunnel, then illuminated by sunlight re-directed via skylights, screens, shutters, and colored blinds. Depending on the direction and intensity of the skillfully manipulated light, the scene would appear to change. The effect was so subtle and finely rendered that both critics and the public were astounded, believing they were looking at a natural scene.

The inventor and proprietor of the Diorama was Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851), formerly a decorator, manufacturer of mirrors, painter of Panoramas, and masterly designer and painter of theatrical stage illusions. Daguerre would later co-invent the daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....

, the first widely used method of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

.

Daguerre opened a second Diorama in Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...

 in London in 1823, a year after the debut of his Paris original. The building which exhibited the diorama, was designed by Augustus Charles Pugin
Augustus Charles Pugin
Augustus Charles Pugin, born Auguste Charles Pugin, was an Anglo-French artist, architectural draughtsman, and writer on medieval architecture...

, father of the notable English architect and designer Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. The show was a popular sensation, and spawned immediate imitations. English artists like Clarkson Stanfield and David Roberts
David Roberts (painter)
David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...

 produced ever-more elaborate dioramas through the 1830s; sound effects and even living performers were added. Some "typical diorama effects included moonlit nights, winter snow turning into a summer meadow, rainbows after a storm, illuminated fountains," waterfalls, thunder and lightning, and ringing bells. A diorama painted by Daguerre is currently housed in the church of the French town Bry-sur-Marne
Bry-sur-Marne
Bry-sur-Marne is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.The commune of Bry-sur-Marne is part of the sector of Porte de Paris, one of the four sectors of the "new town" of Marne-la-Vallée.-Personalities:...

, where he lived and died.

Daguerre diorama exhibitions (R.D. Wood, 1993):

Exhibition venues : Paris (Pa.1822-28) : London (Lo.1823-32) : Liverpool (Li.1827-32) : Manchester (Ma.1825-27) : Dublin (Du.1826-28) : Edinburgh (Ed.1828-36)
  • The Valley of Sarnen :: (Pa.1822-23) : (Lo.1823-24) : (Li.1827-28) : (Ma.1825) : (Du.1826-27) : (Ed. 1828-29 & 1831)
  • The Harbour of Brest :: (Pa.1823) : (Lo.1824-25 & 1837) : (Li.1825-26) : (Ma.1826-27) : (Ed. 1834-35)
  • The Holyrood Chapel :: (Pa.1823-24) : (Lo.1825) : (Li.1827-28) : (Ma.1827) : (Du.1828) : (Ed.1829-30)
  • The Roslin Chapel :: (Pa.1824-25) : (Lo.1826-27) : (Li.1828-29) : (Du.1827-28) : (Ed.1835)
  • The Ruins in a Fog :: (Pa.1825-26) : (Lo.1827-28) : (Ed.1832-33)
  • The Village of Unterseen :: (Pa.1826-27) : (Lo.1828-29) : (Li.1832) : (Ed.1833-34 & 1838)
  • The Village of Thiers :: (Pa.1827-28) : (Lo.1829-30) : (Ed. 1838-39)
  • The Mont St. Godard :: (Pa.1828-29) : (Lo.1830-32) : (Ed.1835-36)

The Gottstein Dioramas

Until 1968 Britain boasted a large collection of dioramas. These collections were originally housed in the Royal United Services Institute
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...

 Museum, (formerly the Banqueting House
Banqueting House
In Tudor and Early Stuart English architecture a banqueting house is a separate building reached through pleasure gardens from the main residence, whose use is purely for entertaining. It may be raised for additional air or a vista, and it may be richly decorated, but it contains no bedrooms or...

), in Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...

. However, when the museum closed, the various exhibits and their 15 known dioramas were distributed to smaller museums throughout England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, some ending up in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and elsewhere. These dioramas were the brainchild of the wealthy furrier Otto Gottstein (1892–1951) of Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, a Jewish immigrant from Hitler’s Germany
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

, who was an avid collector and designer of flat model figures called flats. In 1930, Gottstein’s influence is first seen at the Leipzig International Exhibition, along with the dioramas of Hahnemann of Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, Biebel of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and Muller of Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...

, all displaying their own figures, and those commissioned from such as Ludwig Frank in large diorama form. In 1933 Gottstein left Germany, and in 1935 founded the British Model Soldier Society. Gottstein persuaded designer and painter friends in both Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to help in the construction of dioramas depicting notable events in English history. But due to the war, many of the figures arrived in England incomplete. The task of turning Gottstein’s ideas into reality fell to his English friends and those friends who had managed to escape from the Continent. Dennis (Denny) C. Stokes, a talented painter and diorama maker in his own right, was responsible for the painting of the backgrounds of all the dioramas, creating a unity seen throughout the whole series. Denny Stokes was given the overall supervision of the fifteen dioramas.
  • 1. The Landing of the Romans under Julius Caesar
    Julius Caesar
    Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

     in 55 B.C.
  • 2. The Battle of Hastings
    Battle of Hastings
    The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...

    .
  • 3. The Storming of Acre
    Acre
    The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

    . (figures by Muller.)
  • 4. The Battle of Crecy
    Battle of Crécy
    The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...

    . (figures by Muller.)
  • 5. The Field of the Cloth of Gold
    Field of the Cloth of Gold
    The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase...

    .
  • 6. The Queen Elizabeth
    Elizabeth I of England
    Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

     reviewing her troops at Tilbury
    Tilbury
    Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...

    .
  • 7. The Battle of Marston Moor
    Battle of Marston Moor
    The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646. The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven and the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince...

    .
  • 8. The Battle of Blenheim
    Battle of Blenheim
    The Battle of Blenheim , fought on 13 August 1704, was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV of France sought to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna, the Habsburg capital, and gain a favourable peace settlement...

    . (painted by Douchkine.)
  • 9. The Battle of Plessey.
  • 10. The Battle of Quebec. (engraved by Krunert of Vienna.)
  • 11. The Old Guard
    Old Guard
    The Old Guard were the elite veteran elements of theEmperor Napoleon's Imperial Guard. As such it was the most prestigious formation in Napoleon's Grande Armée....

     at Waterloo
    Battle of Waterloo
    The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

    .
  • 12. The Charge of the Light Brigade
    Charge of the Light Brigade
    The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...

    .
  • 13. The Battle of Ulundi
    Battle of Ulundi
    The Battle of Ulundi took place at the Zulu capital of Ulundi on 4 July 1879 and was the last major battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. The British army finally broke the military power of the Zulu nation by defeating the main Zulu army and immediately afterwards capturing and razing the capital of...

    . (figures by Ochel, and Petrocochino - pseudonym of Paul Armont.)
  • 14. The Battle of Fleurs.
  • 15. The D-Day landings.


Krunert, Schirmer, Frank, Frauendorf, Maier, Franz Rieche and Oesterrich were also involved in the manufacture and design of figures for the various dioramas. Krunert (a Viennese), like Gottstein an exile in London, was given the job of engraving for ‘The Battle of Quebec’. Unfortunately, the ‘death of Wolfe’ was found to be inaccurate and had to be re-designed. The names of the vast majority of painters employed by Gottstein are mostly unknown, most lived and worked on the Continent, among them Gustave Kenmow, Leopold Rieche, L.Dunekate, M.Alexandre, A.Ochel, Honey Ray and, perhaps Gottstein’s top painter, Vladimir Douchkine (a Russian émigré who lived in Paris). Douchkine was responsible for painting two figures of the Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

 on horseback for ‘The Blenheim Diorama’, one of which was used, the other, Gottstein being the true collector, was never released.

Denny Stokes painted all the backgrounds of all the dioramas, Herbert Norris, the Historical Costume Designer, whom Dr. J.F. Lovel-Barnes introduced to Gottstein, was responsible for the costume design of the Ancient Britons, the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 and Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

, some of the figures of ‘The Field of the Cloth of Gold’ and the Elizabethan figures for ‘Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury’. Dr. J.F. Lovel-Barnes was himself responsible for the ‘Battle of Blenheim’ diorama, selecting the figures, and arrangement of the scene. Due to World War II, when flat figures became unavailable, Gottstein completed his ideas by using Greenwood and Ball’s 20mm figures. In time a fifteenth diorama was added, using these 20mm figures, this diorama representing the ‘D-Day landings’. When all the dioramas were completed, they were displayed along one wall in the Royal United Services Institute
Royal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...

 Museum. When the museum was closed the fifteen dioramas were distributed to various museums and institutions. The greatest number are to be found at the Glenbow Museum
Glenbow Museum
The Glenbow Museum in Calgary is one of Western Canada's largest museums, with over 93,000 square feet of exhibition space in more than 20 galleries, showcasing a selection of the Glenbow's collection of over a million objects....

, (130-9th Avenue, S. E. Calgary, Alberta, Canada): RE: The Landing of the Romans under Julius Caesar in 55 BC', 'The Battle Of Crecy', 'The Battle of Blenheim', 'The Old Guard at Waterloo', 'The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava'.

The state of these dioramas is one of debate; John Garratt (The World of Model Soldiers) claimed in 1968, that the dioramas “appear to have been partially broken up and individual figures have been sold to collectors”. According to the Glenbow Institute (Barry Agnew, Curator) “the figures are still in reasonable condition, but the plaster groundwork has suffered considerable deterioration”. Unfortunately, there are no photographs available of the dioramas. ‘The Battle of Hastings’ diorama was to be found in the Old Town Museum, Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

, and is still in reasonable condition. It shows the Norman cavalry charging up Senlac Hill
Senlac Hill
Senlac Hill , was the ridge on which Harold Godwinson deployed his army for the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. The high ground the hill offered gave the English a great advantage over the Normans, who made repeated charges up the hill but to no avail. Only when the Normans feigned retreat...

 towards the Saxon lines. ‘The Storming of Acre’ is in the Museum of Artillery at the Rotunda, Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

. John Garratt, in the "Encyclopedia of Model Soldiers", states that ‘The Field of the Cloth of Gold’ was in the possession of the Royal Military School of Music
Royal Military School of Music
The Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, west London, trains musicians for the British Army's twenty-nine bands. It is part of the Corps of Army Music...

, Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall is a stately home in the Twickenham area of west London, and takes its name from Sir Godfrey Kneller, court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...

; however, according to the Curator, the diorama had not been in his possession since 1980, nor is it listed in their Accession Book, so the whereabouts of this diorama is unknown.

The Denny Stokes dioramas

Very little is known about Dennis C. Stokes, (d.1989), except that he lived in Ealing in London, 1956/57, and was the subject of a 1957 Pathe Film documentary, which narrated his creation of five of his own miniature military dioramas. According to issue one of the Journal of the British Flat Figure Society (1986);

The five known Denny Stokes dioramas, as depicted and narrated by Pathe film 1957. (See here:http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=106)
  • 1. Scotland after the '45 rebellion:
  • 2. The Battle of Quebec:
  • 3. The D-Day Landing:
  • 4. Fur trading station in Canada:
  • 5. Hunting scene from Luis 14th:


Scotland after the '45 rebellion

This is a miniature diorama, part of a collection of Mr. Denny Stokes from London. The main subject of Mr. Stokes' dioramas is military history. He uses all sorts of materials to depict the events from military history in greatest detail possible. (L/S) of fairy tale landscape: a castle, little boat, mountains in the fog - all in shades of blue. (C/U) shot of the detail - entrance into the castle with opened gates and people inside. (C/U) shot of another details - a little boat, soldiers marching, a man and his horse... Voiceover talks about what this represents: "Scotland after the '45 rebellion, showing the English troops occupying a castle, and the opposing Highland rebels of Bonnie Prince Charlie."

This ‘Scotland after the '45 rebellion,’ is the only one of his depicted dioramas, which can be seen, during the filming of this Pathe documentary, as being finished in January 1957. This diorama was never commissioned for a museum, but was designed and created for his personal collection, and remained in his possession as such, until his death in 1989. With the exception of its appearance on this Pathe film in 1957, this rare diorama had never appeared in any public exhibition, until exhibited (without provenance or film), as part of a larger collection of model soldiers, cavalry, and other dioramas, exhibited at the Soldiers Life Exhibition, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 Discovery Museum, between 1998-1999.

Two dioramas depict the scaling of the Heights of Abraham
Heights of Abraham
The Heights of Abraham is a tourist attraction in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, England. It consists of a hilltop park on top of Masson Hill, accessed by a cable car from the village below. Amongst the attractions in the park, which has been open since Victorian times, are cavern and mine tours. The...

 at Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

 by General Wolfe and the East Yorkshires
East Yorkshire Regiment
The East Yorkshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated with the West Yorkshire Regiment , becoming The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of...

 in 1759, and of the D-day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...

 landing at Colleville-Sur-Orne, which were both, commissioned for, and can be seen at, the "East Yorkshire Regiment Museum". Another diorama represents a fur trading station in Canada, with a canoe in a river, wigwams, log cabins, and background mountains. Another depicts a hunting scene of Luis the 14th, showing people on horses, and a deer in the woods, the whereabouts of both these are unknown.

Other dioramas

Painters of the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 era like John Martin
John Martin (painter)
John Martin was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator.-Biography:Martin was born in July 1789, in a one-room family cottage, at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham in Northumberland, the 4th son of Fenwick Martin, a one time fencing master...

 and Francis Danby
Francis Danby
Francis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the central figure in a group of artists who have come to be known as the Bristol School...

 were influenced to create large and highly dramatic pictures by the sensational dioramas and panoramas of their day. In one case, the connection between life and diorama art became intensely circular. On 1 February 1829, John Martin's brother Jonathan, known as "Mad Martin," set fire to the roof of York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...

. Clarkson Stanfield created a diorama re-enactment of the event, which premiered on 20 April of the same year; it employed a "safe fire" via chemical reaction as a special effect. On 27 May, the "safe" fire proved to be less safe than planned: it set a real fire in the painted cloths of the imitation fire, which burned down the theater and all of its dioramas.

Nonetheless, dioramas remained popular in England, Scotland, and Ireland through most of the nineteenth century, lasting until 1880.

A small scale version of the diorama called the Polyrama Panoptique
Polyrama Panoptique
The Polyrama Panoptique was an optical toy popular from the 1820s through to the 1850s. It was invented by Pierre Seguin as development of the earlier "protean view". The device was based on Daguerre's Diorama, of which it was a small-scale and simplified version intended for domestic use...

 could display images in the home. and was marketed from the 1820s.

See also

  • Model military vehicle
    Model military vehicle
    -Scales:The term 'scale' refers to the proportion of actual size the replica or model represents. Scale is usually expressed as a ratio or as a fraction . In either case it conveys the notion that the replica or model is accurately scaled in all visible proportions from a full-size prototype object...

  • Model figure
    Model figure
    A model figure is a scale model representing a human, monster or other creature. Human figures may be either a generic figure of a type , a historical personage , or a fictional character .Model figures are sold both as kits for enthusiast to construct and paint and as pre-built, pre-painted...

  • Nativity scene
    Nativity scene
    A nativity scene, manger scene, krippe, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke...

  • Cosmorama
    Cosmorama
    A cosmorama is an exhibition of perspective pictures of different places in the world, usually world landmarks. Careful illumination and lenses are used to give the images greater realism....

  • Cyclorama
    Cyclorama
    For the classical album Cyclorama, see Jonathan Goldstein; For the rock album Cyclorama by Styx, see Cyclorama ; for the theatrical backdrop, see Cyclorama...

  • Moving panorama
    Moving panorama
    The moving panorama was a relative, more in concept than design, to panoramic painting, but proved to be more durable than its fixed and immense cousin. The word “panorama” is derived from the Greek words “to see” and “all.” Robert Barker invented the first panorama to describe his impressive...

  • Myriorama
    Myriorama
    Myriorama originally meant a set of illustrated cards which 19th century children could arrange and re-arrange, forming different pictures. Later in the century the name was also applied to shows using a sequence of impressive visual effects to entertain and inform an audience...

  • Panorama
    Panorama
    A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....

  • Panoramic painting
    Panoramic painting
    Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th Century in Europe and the United States, inciting opposition from writers of Romantic poetry...

  • Planetarium
    Planetarium
    A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

  • Armor Modeling and Preservation Society
    Armor Modeling and Preservation Society
    The Armor Modeling and Preservation Society is a social club with the common interest of modeling miniature armored fighting vehicles, military model figures, ordnance, dioramas, and related equipment...

  • Model railroading

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK