Accession Number
1982/1.233

Title
Palazzo Contarini Fasan

Artist(s)
Carlo Ponti

Artist Nationality
Italian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1860-1870

Medium & Support
albumen print on paper

Dimensions
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)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. W. Howard Bond

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.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
balconies
buildings
canals (waterways)
documentary photography
palazzi
rivers
streets
tourism
water
window