A topographical cabinet card showing the Palazzo Pesaro in Venice. Built between 1652 and 1710 by the masters of the Venetian late Baroque Baldassare Longhena and Antonio Gaspari, it used Sansovino's Library in the Piazzetta as a model for its splendid façade. After the death of the last Pesaro in 1830 the palace had a succession of owners until it was acquired by the City of Venice in 1902.

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.