Carlo Ponti

(b Milan, 6 Nov 1820; d Venice, 16 Nov 1893). Italian photographer and optician of Swiss descent. He lived for some years in Paris, where he worked with the optician Chauchoix and learnt the technique of photography, to which he later dedicated most of his energy. He reached Venice towards 1852 and, after a short time, his inventions for optical and photographic instruments earned him public recognition. In the early years he collaborated with the photographer Fortunato Antonio Perini (1830-79) and then the painter and photographer Domenico Bresolin (1813-99), whose archive he took over in 1864.

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Ponti, Carlo (1820/24-93), Swiss-born Italian inventor, photographer, and publisher. After six years in Paris perfecting his technique for making albumen prints, he established himself in Venice c. 1852. Here he exploited the growing market for photographic souvenirs, producing a Ricordo di Venezia album containing twenty views apparently chosen by the client. His shop on the Piazza San Marco also sold work by other Venetian photographers, often under Ponti's name. He invented new camera lenses and the Megalethoscope, a device for creating diorama-like ‘day-for-night’ effects.

— Molly Rogers

Bibliography

• Dewitz, B. v., et al., Italien sehen und sterben: Photographien der Zeit des Risorgimento (1994)