Pompeo Pozzi (1817-1888), "Milan. View of the southern side of the Duomo", circa 1855-1870, albumen print, 393x277 mm, LV 1150

Pompeo Pozzi, studied as a painter at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and from 1848, worked at the printing firm he had inherited from his father, Luigi Valeriano. He soon became interested in photography and before long  turned professional, dedicating himself to the faithful representation of monumental buildings and works of art. The art and photography magazine “L'Artista”, edited by Luigi Sacchi from 1859, was headquartered at his shop. In 1862 he was considered, in Antonio Caimi’s memoirs, among one of the best artists in Lombardy. He received important commissions from the city of Milan to photograph the buildings constructed by the technical offices and by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (the organisation charged with the construction and upkeep of the cathedral), which in turn hired him to document work on the cathedral. His photographs were acquired by a French diplomat and are today housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
The photograph of the southern side of the Duomo is a collodion contact print and was taken from the top of the Portico dei Figini building before its demolition and shows the facade of the building opposite the cathedral before the construction of the northern porticoes (1870-1874).