9 Items in this Learning Collection
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Ponte dei Sospiri

Accession Number
1995/1.73

Title
Ponte dei Sospiri

Artist(s)
Carlo Ponti

Artist Nationality
Italian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1855-1870

Medium & Support
albumen print on paper

Dimensions
13 7/8 in x 10 3/16 in (35.24 cm x 25.88 cm);20 in x 16 in (50.8 cm x 40.64 cm);17 5/16 in x 12 in (43.97 cm x 30.48 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Margaret and Howard Bond

Subject matter
This photograph depicts a view looking down a canal in the Northern Italian city of Venice.  Spanning across and connecting the two buildings on either side of the water is an covered bridge made of white limestone. Adorned with symmetrical motifs, the baroque-style bridge is ornate and regal, and has two barred windows in its face. The building on the left is lined with tall, arching windows and capitals, while the building on the right is shorter and unembellished. On the left side of the canal standing on a stone embankment are two men, who regard the camera from a distance. Docked along their side of the canal are a series of gondolas. 

The bridge is known as the Bridge of Sighs, and it connects the interrogation rooms within the Doge’s Palace to the prison on the other side of the canal. This melancholic name is derived from the walk that sentenced prisoners would take as they headed to their cells, where through the barred windows of the bridge, they they would catch a last glimpse of Venice and the outside world.

Physical Description
This photograph depicts a view of a canal lined with stone buildings; an ornate covered-bridge spans the water, connecting the structures on either side. Two men stand on an embankment to which a series of gondolas are docked. 

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
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
Northern Italian
Urban life
Venice
bridges
bridges (built works)
buildings
canals
canals (waterways)
city
covered bridges
gondolas (flat-bottomed watercraft)
palazzi
rivers
water

4 Related Resources

Decadence
(Part of 5 Learning Collections)
Prison and Punishment
(Part of 11 Learning Collections)
Italy in 19th-Century Photography
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Making the Modern Mediterranean - browsing resource
(Part of: F20 Ballinger - HISTORY 497 - Making the Modern Mediterranean)

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted