This chapter is based on a paper given at Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA) London, 5-7 July 2010, British Computer Society, London. It was one of 22 papers chosen for this volume of the best of EVA London 2009-2012 (approximately 160 full papers).

This chapter is historical in two respects. Its first purpose is to enquire how visual representations of historical time can be used to bring out patterns in cultural collections. Such a visual analytics approach raises questions about the proper representation of time and of objects and events within it. It is argued that such chronographics can support both an externalised, objectivising point of view from ‘outside’ time and one which is immersive and gives a sense of the historic moment. These modes are set in their own historical context through original historical research, highlighting the shift to an Enlightenment view of time as a uniform container for events. This in turn prompts new ways of thinking about chronological visualisation, in particular the separation of the ‘ideal’ image of time from contingent, temporary rendered views.