Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burford, Robert
BURFORD, ROBERT (1791–1861), panorama painter, was born in 1791. In 1812 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy ‘A View of Westminster Hall.’ In conjunction with H. A. Barker [q. v.] he opened a panorama on the site of the present Strand Theatre, and then removed it to Leicester Square, where for many years it formed one of the chief attractions oi London. Burford exhibited there a succession of panoramic views of the chief places of interest in Europe, all of which he visited himself in order to obtain accurate drawings. Mr. Ruskin visited the exhibition as a boy, and speaks in high praise of Burford's abilities in his ‘Præterita’ (1885), p. 200. He died at his residence, 35 Camden Road Villas, on 30 Jan. 1861, just after finishing a view of Naples and Messina. Among the panoramas exhibited may be mentioned the ‘Battle of Waterloo,’ ‘Cabool,’ ‘Baden,’ ‘The Embarkation of the Queen at Treport,’ ‘Athens,’ ‘Constantinople,’ ‘Grand Cairo,’ ‘Ruins of Pompeii,’ ‘The Polar Regions,’ ‘The Battle of the Alma,’ ‘Siege of Sebastopol,’ ‘Venice,’ ‘Rome,’ ‘Rio Janeiro,’ &c.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists (1878); MS. notes in British Museum.]