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Palazzo Contarini Fasan

Carlo Ponti

Artwork Details

Palazzo Contarini Fasan
circa 1860-1870
Carlo Ponti
albumen print on paper
11 ½ in x 15 1/16 in (29.21 cm x 38.26 cm);15 in x 18 in (38.1 cm x 45.72 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. Howard Bond
1982/1.233

Description

Subject Matter:

This is one of several views of the Palazzo Contarini Fasan that Carlo Ponti took between 1858-1875. A photograph of this small Gothic palace, traditionally believed to be the home of Desdemona in William Shakespeare's Othello, would have been a good souvenir for foreign tourists passing through Venice in the late nineteenth century. Ponti depicts the Palazzo frontally, squeezed in between several other buildings along the canal. This offers a good view of the Palazzo's distinctive balconies, with their delicate, circular motif, but also subsumes the tiny building into the fabric of the city, revealing it to be somewhat less distinctive and identifiable than the well-marked Hotel New York next door.

Physical Description:

Photograph of façades of palazzos along the edge of a waterway.

Usage Rights:

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