Panorama of Malta
| Artist | James Robertson (English, ca. 1810– after 1881) |
|---|---|
| Title | Panorama of Malta |
| Date | Ca. 1854–1856 |
| Medium | Three-sheet albumen print |
| Dimensions | Overal (three sheets attached togethe)r: 6 15/16 × 29 5/8 in. (17.6 × 75.2 cm) Mount: 14 × 20 in. (35.6 × 50.8 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 82.9.4 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
This image is a panoramic landscape depicting a city built on a coastal cliff.
An English engraver employed by the Imperial Ottoman Mint in Istanbul, James Robertson became interested in photography and paired up with another British photographer, Felice Beato, to open a studio in 1854. Both men took a trip with Beato’s brother Antonio to Malta (an island country in the Mediterranean) in 1854 or 1856. The firm of Robertson, Beato and Company pioneered the scenic panorama. These spectacular multi-sheet photographs required carefully orchestrated contiguous exposures of a scene on separate plates and then the joining together of the resulting prints into a single, unbroken image. The side panels of this three-sheet panorama were able to be folded inward to fit into a book or portfolio.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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Cite this page
"Panorama of Malta | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=82.9.4