[Venetian Palace]

Born in Padua, Bresolin studied landscape painting at the Accademia di Venezia and with the Hungarian painter Kardis Markò (1791-1860) in Florence. His artistic training in the direct observation of nature likely led him to photography; he began using paper negatives to record views of Venice around 1850. That year Bresolin presented a group of salted paper prints made from paper negatives to the Accademia in honor of his acceptance as a fellow of the institution. During the following decade, Bresolin continued to work as both painter and photographer. He exhibited photographs in London and Paris, and distributed them through the shop of fellow photographer Carlo Ponti (1823-1893.) Many of Bresolin’s prints retain Ponti’s blind stamp, attesting to this commercial partnership.

This photograph derives from a series of views of Venetian architecture that Bresolin made in the early 1850s, which depict in exquisite detail the facades of the lagoon city’s famed palazzi. The series reflected a growing interest at the time in the study and preservation of the medieval architecture of Venice. Bresolin’s photographs were praised by the influential art critic and historian, Pietro Selvatico (1803-1880), who promoted the use of photography for artistic training at the Accademia di Venezia. The work of Selvatico—and Bresolin—can be understood in parallel to the efforts of John Ruskin and his use of photography in The Stones of Venice (1851-1853.)