A diorama, in the strictest sense of the term, is a scene enclosed in a box and viewed through a small opening, something we more commonly call a "shadow box." In recent years, diorama has come to mean any scene executed in three dimensions, whether it is enclosed in a box or not. At its most basic, then, a diorama is nothing more than a model or group of models placed in a realistic setting. This setting almost invariably involves a landscaped base of some sort and probably a few figures to add scale and interest. Once installed in a setting, however, any model undergoes a transformation. It becomes part of a three-dimensional picture, an image as vivid and informative as a painting or a photograph. This is because a model standing alone is limited to being just what it appears to be: a miniature replica of an object in real life. In a diorama setting the model is placed in context, and the context furnishes a frame of reference that amplifies and further illustrates the models meaning and significance.
