• Sign up or login, and you'll have full access to opportunities of forum.

The Lost Panorama

Go to CruxDreams.com
My own interpretation:
Notice that on photographs of Styka's original panorama, there was, as far as I can see, no fire under the crucified woman's feet.
nero5.jpg
Probably the fire has been added on a later replica (of a part of the painting, since the Original was, as I found out (see 'The lost Panorama' thread), destroyed in 1915 in the Russian city of Saratov, due to collapse of the roof of the building where it was exposed then.

The crucified woman was also depicted on a poster for the exposition of the panorama in Paris (1900).
nero4.jpg

The panorama must have been impressive anyway, showing a mass crucifixion, as the scenery to depict Saint Peter's martyrdom.
Definitely, it can be ranked in the Chamion's League of Crucifixion events.
 
I took a little time to try translating the German comments on the painting in the documents revealed by Zephyros.
Note that there is some confusion about Styka’s birthplace. Recent sources mention Lviv (Lemberg, Lvov, Lwόw), now in Ukraine. The mention of Leopoldstadt (referring to Leopoldov, Lipotvar or Ujvároska depending on the language, and nowadays located in western Slovakia), could originate from confusion with the Latin name of Lviv (Leopolis)?
Also note that no data have been found yet about the dimensions of the painting.
******

“There is hardly any artwork that creates such a contemplation in the soul of the spectator, as well as heart shuddering horror from the depicted subject, and thereby appealing such a high degree of admiration for the art of the painter, than Jan Styka’s colossal artwork “The Martyrdom of the Christians in Nero’s circus”.
We must go back to the year 64 A.D. The hate of the exasperated Romans against the young Christian community led to outrageous mass crucifixions of the Christians. It was not satisfying to just witness the last moments of the dying adepts of the Christian faith - that had been a too short moment of the titillating horror – no, butchering Christians took a full day long of shivering pleasure. For hundred thousands, Nero had prepared hospitable places, and hundred thousands enjoyed to attend his feasts. But down in the arena, it was endless misery. Endless rows of wooden crosses standing in the blood saturated sand. The Christian victims are dragged to the crosses, nailed to them by rude hands, and are hanging writhing in their pain. Elder with hollow eyes, strong men in the prime of their life, women with looks at the verge of erupting frenzy, lads watching half curious, half apathetic the preparations of their crucifixion, maidens hiding behind their tears soaked wavy long hair. Still bigger numbers are brought in, and the number of crosses rapidly increases, under the capable hand of the executioner. The doomed victims are rudely drawn over the ground, taking away man from wife, father from son.
Some apathetically await their fate, their feelings already killed by the gruesome scene around them. Others raise threatening hands. Cursing. Imprecating. Everywhere in the circus, lamentations rise above the overall noise. But the feast still has to come to its height. The emperor has not arrived yet. His lodge is still empty. Then, cheering calls are heard in the circus. All look at the ruler’s lodge, because he has appeared, the organizer of this horrifying première. Nero, the imperial actor who has himself, with an expert hand, arranged the preparations of this bloody feast. Decorated with all the signs of his dignity, dressed in an amethyst purple tunica, sitting in an ivory chair, he shows himself.
Next to him stands Tigellinus, his faithful companion, his master of ceremonies on all the feasts. In front of him sits the beautiful Poppea Sabina, Caesar’s rich, immoral, horny, but spiritual spouse. Left from the emperor’s lodge are the Vestals, in their white gowns, for the glorification of the event, while right, the most important senators are sitting. The background shows the imperial guards, with their dark brown shiny bronze breast harnesses.
Gradually, the sun approaches the western horizon, its purple rays breaking upon the colorful marble stones. On the columns, the light of the first weak evening red is playing. There – a hint by Tigellinus, down in the arena, bundles of twigs, that had been put at the crucified’s feet, start flaming. Smoke rises, flames surround the bodies of the tortured. A thousand fold cry of pain rises, drown out by the outcry’s of admiration for the magnificent atrocity of the spectacle. With bestial joy, the beautiful eyes of the Roman ladies gloat the last convulsions of pain of the dying Christian martyrs. Definitely, this is an insane moment of World history, that lets our heart shudder.
Jan Styka is Hungarian, born in 1858 in Leopoldstadt in the Neutra County. After studies in his homeland and in Krakow, he went to Vienna in 1877, to Paris in 1888 and back to his homeland in 1893. The subjects of his other work are inspired by the history of his country and by biblical stories. His brushwork and his artistic creations are clearly influenced by three famous painters : Matejko, Makart and Munkacsy. Anyone considering this artwork will recognize these influences. Matejko’s influence is visible in the glaring color contrast and in the pleasure of creating large compositions. Makart left him some of his ornamental genius, while from Munkacsy, he took over the historical framing and also the astonishing ethnographic reality. Jan Styka is definitely an extraordinary artist and his “Martyrdom of the Christians in Nero’s circus” is a piece of art that provokes both admiration and a warm delight. “
See, it's shit like this that almost makes you sympathize with old Nero.
I mean, what would you do if you had THAT level of power?
Would you be like him?
Or would you usher in a new era of liberty and equality to the Empire?

Sure, I'd want to do the latter, but I'd also crucify naked women....... a LOT of them!
 
The Lost Panorama

A recurrent topic on the forum are stories and pics of classical scenes of crucifixion in the Roman arena. Among these pics are reproductions from what was once a monumental panorama painting, entitled “The martyrdom of Christians in Nero’ circus”. A masterpiece from the Polish painter Jan Styka (1858-1925).
View attachment 310726
I got curious about this panorama painting. It is often mentioned on the internet, but little is revealed about what happened to it. Eventually I found some information, that allowed to reconstruct its history as far as possible. These are the results up to now (as far as I found out, this information was not yet presented on the Forum – correct me if I am wrong). I particularly wondered, whether it still existed somewhere.
View attachment 310727
Panorama paintings were extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. They toured throughout Europe and the US, in order to be displayed in rotundas, circular buildings, often erected for the purpose.
Previously, Jan Styka had painted ‘Golgotha’, a huge 60 m long and 14 m high panorama, representing the crucifixion of Christ. According to sources (Wikipedia), it was to be shown at the 1904 World Fair in Saint Louis (running simultaneously with the Olympic Games held that year in the city). But US customs confiscated it, because of problems concerning payment of customs taxes. It then got lost for 40 years, to be rediscovered in a basement in Chicago. It is now on display in Los Angeles.
The as yet most complete information of Styka’s next panorama, The martyrdom of Christians in Nero’ circus (1897), I found on the site of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS). It is a Russian site. The IOPS was founded in 1882 to support research on the Holy land (related to Russian Orthodox religion) and to support Russian pilgrims. After the Bolshevik revolution, it was incorporated into the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1992, the Society was restored by its original name. So, the language of the IOPS site is Russian. I do not master Russian at all, and although some parts of the text are also available in English, these are limited. So I had to rely on Google translator, almost sentence by sentence. Although the results are sometimes awkward (the translator struggles with grammar, I guess, and Styka’s name is translated as ‘joint’), it nevertheless gives a good idea of the content. But be aware that I occasionally had to interpret the translation. The information on the panorama is found on an extensive page of the IOPS website, about pieces of art on evangelist themes on large paintings and panorama’s. Because of the extent of that web page, I have not translated all of it, only the section on Styka’s panorama. Beware that, since I found the site, it has been under reorganization, so some of the links had changed recently (and as the site is also very large, and I got lost in the links in Russian, it is better to have a link directly to the page concerned). The link below is where I found it most recently.
Styka started to work at the panorama around 1897. He was clearly inspired by scenes from the successful novel Quo Vadis (1895) by Henryk Sienkiewcz (1846-1916) (Nobelprize in Literature in 1905). Later, Styka also painted more scenes and illustrations based on, or even for the novel.
View attachment 310729
The scene is the racing track of the circus, the stands being crowded with onlookers. The central figure is the apostle Peter, about to be crucified upside down, surrounded by some followers. Behind him, tens of crosses are erected, most of them carrying already a victim. More crosses (I estimate there must be about 300 at all) are hidden by the spina, left of Saint-Peter. To the right, the view extends to the emperor’s loge. In the arena, many people, most of them naked or nearly naked, dwell around, waiting their turn to be executed.
In 1900, the panorama was on display in Paris (where also a World Fair and Olympic games were held). Actually, one can still find posters announcing this exhibition (they are even for sale). The posters show a crucified naked woman, seen from the back. On the panorama, she is facing Nero’s loge.
View attachment 310730
After Paris, the panorama traveled through Europe, and seems to have been shown in Warsaw and Kiev. In 1912, according to the IOPS website, it was put on display in the Russian town of Saratov, located on the Wolga, some 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow and 200 kilometers north of Wolgograd. It was a huge success, but then the owner of the panorama had a dispute with the town council, the owner of the exhibition rotunda, about the rent. Eventually, the painting was confiscated by the council. But then it was left to neglect. On January 15th, 1915, the roof of the rotunda collapsed under the weight of a load of snow, which the council had failed to have removed. The panorama was heavily damaged. Some saw it as a bad omen for the fate of Russia in the ongoing war.
Fragments of the painting were kept stored in a warehouse in Saratov. A local painter named Theodore Maksimovic Korneev proposed to restore it. But meanwhile, the Bolsheviks were on power, and religious art was less appreciated. Attempts have been made by Korneev to ‘recuperate’ it politically, by exposing it in a planned ‘Museum of the Revolution’, as a display of capitalist decadency in the Roman Empire.
But in 1929, Korneev was arrested and banished to Archangelsk. Since, the fate of the panorama is unknown. Is it still stored somewhere? Is it in hands of private collectors? Will it ever ‘resurrect’, like ‘Golgotha’. Or is it lost? It’s a mystery up to date.
http://news.jerusalem-ippo.ru/index...ent&task=view&id=4331&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=327
Would love to get a high definition of the panaroma. Interesting historical painting for sure and it's a mass crucifixion by Nero in an arena. Much like the Quo Vadis scene
 
Back
Top Bottom