Barker, the inventor of the Panorama, was the son of an upholsterer in Newcastle. In early life, he evinced a taste for the fine arts. Not having sufficient employment as a miniature painter and drawing-master, he opened a shop at the foot of the Middle Street, where he sold glass, china, paints, and prints, and made pomatum and other articles of perfumery. He was inventive, and speculative, but disliked the routine of business. In 1784, he became a bankrupt, and shortly afterwards removed to Edinburgh, where he practised as a portrait painter until 1787, when he took out a patent for his new invention, called La Nature a Coup d'Oeil, later known as the Panorama. By this ingenious device, pictures are painted in distemper on the inside of a cylindrical surface, and the eye being placed in the axis of the cylinder, a striking resemblance to reality is produced. Barker’s first picture of this kind was a view of Edinburgh, which he exhibited in that city in 1788. After this, he organised similar exhibitions in London, and was ultimately enabled to build commodious premises for the purpose in Leicester Square.