Origins
Panoramas in Switzerland (2)
3. The grand panorama in Einsiedeln entitled Crucifixion of Christ, by the Munich artists Carl Frosch, Josef Krieger and Leigh, dating from 1892/93, was commissioned by the Gyr Brothers and was totally destroyed in a fire in 1960, but was repainted in 1962. It was a copy of the panorama in Vienna (which also burnt down) by Bruno Piglhein, in which the artists Frosch and Krieger also collaborated. Josef Krieger painted the skies for the Murten panorama.
The most significant work, artistically, in this genre in Switzerland was the panorama entitled Alpes bernoises. It was also commissioned by Henneberg, and was prepared in draft form by Auguste Baud-Bovy and Auguste Furet in 1891, then completed one year later in Vincennes by eight artists. It met a dramatic end: after being exhibited in Chicago, Antwerp, Geneva and Paris, it was torn to shreds by a storm at its final exhibition venue, Dublin. It was of the utmost significance in promoting tourism in the Alps.
Earlier plans by a Lucerne company for a panorama of the Battle of Sempach (1885), for which Braun had also been contacted, and a project by Giovanni Segantini for a panorama of the Engadine, which would have been shown at the 1900 World Exposition in Paris, never materialised, due to lack of funds.
