Carlo Ponti (–1893) was a
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
-born
optician
An optician, or ''dispensing optician'', is a technical practitioner who designs, fits and dispenses lenses for the correction of a person's vision. Opticians determine the specifications of various ophthalmic appliances that will give the nec ...
and photographer active in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
from about 1848.
[The History of the Discovery of Cinematography]
Chapter Ten: 1860-1869
/ref>
Early life
Carlo Ponti was born in Sagno
Sagno is a former municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland; it is now part of the new municipality of Breggia.
On 25 October 2009 the municipalities of Bruzella, Cabbio, Caneggio, Morbio Superiore, M ...
in Canton Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
, Switzerland between 1822 and 1824. He moved as an adult to Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to train for about five years in the workshop of optician Robert-Aglaé Cauchoix
Robert-Aglaé Cauchoix (24 April 1776 – 5 February 1845) was a French optician and instrument maker, whose lenses played a part in the race of the great refractor telescopes in the first half of the 19th century.
Instruments
At first Cauchoi ...
,before settling in Venice after 1848.
Career
Ponti opened an optician’s shop in Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco (; vec, Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (exc ...
52, near the Caffè Florian
Caffè Florian is a coffee house situated in the Procuratie Nuove of Piazza San Marco, Venice. It was established in 1720 and is the oldest coffee house in continuous operation in Italy, and one of the oldest in the world (the oldest being Café ...
, producing high quality instruments, for which he had sole rights, for astronomy and physics and photographic lenses, especially those used for panoramas
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
, as well as selling products of other companies. On 30 May 1854 he was awarded a silver medal for his photographic equipment at the Esposizione Industriale Veneta.
As a photographer and editor Ponti published photographic prints, both his own and others, building an international clientele. From this time he systematically photographed Venice and by 1855 had a catalogue of 160 photographic views of Venetian architecture (''Guida fotografica illustrata della città di Venezia''), each captioned with historical and aesthetic information, supported by an introductory history of Venetian architecture, which was awarded at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1855. He published and distributed postcard
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
s, stereographs
Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...
and travel photographs of Venice and its art and architecture on an industrial scale, issuing thousands of prints a month made by hundreds of employees. Tourists' collections of such photographic ''spolia'' were preserved in their own photographic albums, and such distribution popularised classical and Italian Renaissance and Baroque art.
In this industry he collaborated with Francesco Maria Zinelli and Giuseppe Beniamino Coen and provided an outlet for other studio operators such as Antonio Perini, Carlo Naya
Carlo Naya (1816 in Tronzano Vercellese1882 in Venice) was an Italian photographer known for his pictures of Venice including its works of art and views of the city for a collaborative volume in 1866. He also documented the restoration of Giotto ...
, and Domenico Bresolin who, on attaining the chair in landscape at the Accademia, transferred his studio and archive to Ponti.
Ponti distributed their work with his own stamp, so that attribution is often in contention; Perini was probably the author of some of the photographs in the catalogue Ponti presented at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855. Some prints in the Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
collection formerly attributed to Ponti were found to be marked with numbers corresponding to Naya's catalogues published between 1864 and his death in 1882.
In 1866 Carlo Ponti became official photographer to King Victor Emanuel II of Italy
en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas
, house = Savoy
, father = Charles Albert of Sardinia
, mother = Maria Theresa of Austria
, religion = Roman Catholicism
, image_size = 252px
, succession1 ...
, when Venice was incorporated in the Italian nation. The prestige of his royal appointment brought further business in other cities including Paris, London, Liverpool, Berlin, Stuttgart, Lyons, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, and San Francisco.
Inventor
Ponti was an inventor of a sophisticated version of the peep show
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot.
Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...
, the alethoscope (from the Greek “true”, “exact” and “vision”) in 1860 which he presented to the Société française de photographie in 1861, then in April, to the Istituto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Venice, earning an honourable mention there in May. He obtained a patent in January 1862 and commenced marketing it.
A larger version, the megalethoscope, was produced for him by cabinetmaker Demetrio Puppolin, whose name is inscribed on different models, some highly decorated with pearl inlay and marquetry. His invention was awarded Grand Prix at the International Exhibition
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
in London in 1862.
Both devices enlarged photographic views through a wide, thick magnifying lens to create an illusion of the subjects' plasticity, perspective depth and modelling. The albumen plates for some versions of the megalethoscope are curved with slotted wooden braces for optical correction of lens aberrations, and pinprick perforations and mechanically thinned areas on the albumen prints have been made for viewing the photographic images under reflected and transmitted light to suggest day or night lighting, fantastic effects (''diavoletti'') and to add colours.
This degree of animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
of megalethoscope views was applied to the representaiton of events, and as a way to re-enact history, such as a daylight view of an empty St Mark's Square that could be transformed with back lighting into a night scene showing illuminations and lively crowds celebrating of the annexation of the Veneto by the rest of Italy. Another of the transparencies shows the burning of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris during the Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...
. Sets of images take the viewer on a simulated trip along the Grand Canal at night, a popular Venetian tourist experience. Ponti's success benefitted from his familiarity with, and repetition of, traditional painted views, and his distribution network through commercial studios beyond Venice, including that of Francis Frith
Francis Frith (also spelled Frances Frith, 7 October 1822 – 25 February 1898) was an English photographer of the Middle East and many towns in the United Kingdom.
Frith was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, attending Quaker schools at Ackwort ...
in the United Kingdom and Pompeo Pozzi in Milan.
Ponti's rights to these devices lapsed after 1866, due to administrative confusion after the after the Third Italian War of Independence
The Third Italian War of Independence ( it, Terza Guerra d'Indipendenza Italiana) was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in ...
, when Venice, along with the rest of the Veneto
Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona.
Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...
, became part of the newly created Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. Despite Ponte's legal battles between 1868 and 1876 to prevent it, Carlo Naya began to manufacture and sell the Aletoscopio, which Ponti tried to counter by issuing variations of the instrument under other names including Amfoteroscopio, Dioramoscopio, Pontioscopio, Cosmorama Fotografico. Well aware of their market value, Naya counter-sued Ponti for the many views that he had taken and were sold with Ponti's megalethoscope, though many were actually taken by Naya's assistants.
Later life
Ponti retained his Swiss citizenship throughout his life, but remained in Venice. He published catalogues of his images of Venice, but also of other Italian cities, in 1855, 1864, 1866 and 1872. He became totally blind during his latter years, and died in Venice on 16 November 1893.
Exhibitions
* 1855: ''Exposition Universelle'', Paris
Posthumous
* 1979: ''Fotografia italiana dell'Ottocento.'' Florence
* 1980: ''Fotografia italiana dell'Ottocento.'' Venice
* 1994, 23 September: Italien: ''Sehen und Sterben: Photographien zer Zeit des Risorgimento (1845-1870)'' exhibition organised by Agfa Foto-Historama. Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Köln
* 1995, 2 March–5 June: ''Italien: Sehen und Sterben: Photographien zer Zeit des Risorgimento (1845-1870)''. Reiss-Museum der Stadt Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
* 1996, 31 October—2 February 1997: ''Un Magicien De L'image = Zauberkünstler Mit Bildern''. Musée Suisse De L'appareil Photographique
Collections
* Museé Suisse de l’Appareil Photographique, Vevey: an example of the Megaletoscopio and albumen prints
* Fototeca della Soprintendenza per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico e Demoetnoantropologico, Brera, Milan
* Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia
* Dietmar Siegert Collection, Münich
* Wilfried Wiegand Collection, Frankfurt am Main
* Janos Scholz Collection
* Department of Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
, Malibu
* Musée D'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...
* George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...
* Carlo Montanaro Archive
Gallery
File:Stereograph Carlo Ponti.jpg, Carlo Ponti, 1860s, Venice, Stereograph on card
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Venezia - Palazzo Ducale - Dettaglio 1.jpg, Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1860s) - Venezia - Palazzo Ducale - Dettaglio. Stereograph
File:Carlo Ponti 1870s Bridge of Sighs.jpg, Carlo Ponti 1870s Bridge of Sighs
File:Grand Canal Carlo Ponti.jpg, Carlo Ponti, ca. 1870, Grand Canal: Palace Tiepolo Palais Tiepolo, Pont de Rialto. Venise. Albumen silver print with tissue and applied color (Megalethoscope slide)
File:Interlaken, Switzerland Carlo Ponti.jpg, Transparency attributed to Carlo Ponti. Interlaken, Switzerland ca. 1870. Albumen silver print with tissue and applied color (Megalethoscope slide). Image: 25.5 x 33.6 cm
File:The three pyramids, night view.jpg, Carlo Ponti (attributed to) Egypt Gizeh - The Three Pyramids ca. 1875. Albumen silver print with tissue and applied color (Megalethoscope slide) 24.8 x 33.8 cm.
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Venezia - Palazzo Ducale, cortile.jpg, Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1870s) - Venezia - Palazzo Ducale, cortile, albumen print
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Venezia - Church of the Frari - Monument of Doge Giovanni Pesaro.jpg, Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1870s) - Venezia - Church of the Frari - Monument of Doge Giovanni Pesaro
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Venezia - Ponte di RIalto - 1860s.jpg, Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1860s) - Venezia - Ponte di RIalto
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Venezia - Torre dell'orologio 2.jpg, Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1860s-1870s) - Venezia - Torre dell'orologio. Albumen print
File:La porta del Palazzo ducale; Carlo Ponti.jpg, La porta del Palazzo ducale; Carlo Ponti
File:Carlo Ponti 1860–1870 Sainte Marie en Nazareth, vulgairement les Scalzi.jpg, Carlo Ponti 1860–1870 Sainte Marie en Nazareth, vulgairement les Scalzi
File:Carlo Ponti (c.1865) Ponte dei Sospiri.jpg, Carlo Ponti (c.1865) Ponte dei Sospiri
File:Basilica SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.jpg, Carlo Ponti Basilica SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
File:Chiesa della Misericordia by Carlo Ponti.jpg, Chiesa della Misericordia by Carlo Ponti
File:Carlo Ponti Palazzo Dario.jpg, Carlo Ponti Palazzo Dario
File:Carlo Ponti (1862-65) Flower Seller.jpg, Carlo Ponti (1862–65) Flower Seller, hand-coloured albumen print
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Mendicante.jpg, A beggar, by Carlo Ponti, hand-coloured albumen print
File:Boy with tray around neck.jpg, Carlo Ponti Boy with tray around neck
File:Carlo Ponti copy of Titian Assunzione di Maria.jpg, Carlo Ponti, copy of Titian's ''Assunzione di Maria''
File:Carlo Ponti Riposo in Egitto.jpg, Carlo Ponti copy of relief sculpture ''Riposo in Egitto''
File:La porta del Palazzo ducale; Carlo Ponti.jpg, La porta del Palazzo ducale; Carlo Ponti
File:Ponti, Carlo (ca. 1823-1893) - Trademark.jpg, Carlo Ponti Trademark, print on card, reverse of photographic print
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponti, Carlo (photographer)
1823 births
1893 deaths
Italian photographers
Artists from Venice
People from Ticino
Swiss emigrants to Italy
Engineers from Venice
19th-century Italian inventors
19th-century Swiss photographers