Abstract

In 1821, the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence sparked a philhellenic mobilization that drew in the European public with a never-before-seen intensity. The media, and military panoramas in particular, played a decisive role in this veritable «Graecomania». Patented in 1787, the panorama consisted in an immense circular canvas, allowing the spectator to be completely immersed in the painted subject. Having faced a crisis with the end of the Napoleonic wars, the military panorama received fresh impetus from the Hellenic conflict, and it became a huge success, especially in Paris and London. Filling a gap in the scientific literature, this article aims to reconstruct the story of the philhellenic panoramas produced in France and England with a transnational perspective, highlighting the innovative ways through which they mediatized and spectacularized the Greek War of Independence. More precisely, the philhellenic season launched two formats: the fixed panorama, perfected in France by Jean-Charles Langlois, and the moving panorama, popularized in England by a varied crowd of stage designers and entertainment entrepreneurs.