EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 20 © 2017 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

41 Some readers might be familiar with the pseudo- historical biographical novels based on the ‘Flashman Papers’ by Scottish author George MacDonald Fraser. In them, we get to know the further adventures of that bully and that bully and cad, Harry Flashman, who made Tom Brown’s schooldays so arduous in the eponymous book by Thomas Hughes that most British lads had to read during their formative years. MacDonald Fraser turned that fictitious character into a larger-than-life one who lived through many wars taking place around the world during the 19th century. If ever there was an artist who could have illustrated those stories, and lived them as well, it was the Russian-born German national of French parentage, Franz Roubaud. Roubaud is regarded as one of the greatest painters of panoramas. His huge panoramic paintings from the nineteenth century, generally depicting epic events drenched in pomp and circumstance, were popular because of their gigantic size: 115 x 15 metres. The problem was that to be viewed, a special museum (or pavilion) had to be built in which a circular stage would be constructed, wherein the artwork would be assembled as a large cylinder.The painting would then be viewed from a slightly elevated position in the centre of the pavilion. Viewers could move around, exploring