A topographical cabinet card showing the principal façade of Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice. It is the most famous of the city’s many churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. Facing Saint Mark’s Square, it is adjacent and connected to the Doge’s Palace.

Photographed by Carlo Ponti of Venice.

Carlo Ponti studied photography in Paris in the 1840’s. In 1852, he obtained a license to produce and sell photographs in Venice. He ran the first of the big photographic businesses in the city, producing albums with architectural views of great artistic sensitivity. He was also the inventor of camera lenses suitable for panoramic photography.