A hand-colored CDV portrait of Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, the powerful Secretary of State to Pope Pius IX, produced by the Roman studio Fratoddi at Via Felice no. 108 in Rome. Antonelli served as Cardinal Secretary of State for the Holy See from 1848 until his death in 1876. The hand-applied coloring, an elaborate throne setting, and the formal ecclesiastical dress all suggest a portrait produced during his long tenure at the height of papal power, most likely between the 1860s and his death in 1876.

The subject is seated in a gilt, carved throne chair and wears full cardinal's dress: a brilliant red mozzetta and cassock over a richly embroidered white rochet with floral patterning, a scarlet zucchetto on his head, and small red buttons visible down the front of the cassock. A heavy crimson curtain falls at the upper right, and a blue-draped side table is visible at his right elbow. His left arm rests on the chair, and his expression is calm and slightly upward-gazing against a warm neutral background.

Antonelli served as Cardinal and Vatican Secretary of State to Pius IX and was the principal political executive of the States of the Church, known as the Temporal Power of the pope. Though never ordained as a priest, he was created cardinal in 1847 and was in general control of the government of the Papal States until their elimination in 1870, remaining in charge of the Pope's relations with other governments until 1876. He was often called the "Italian Richelieu."

Inscribed in pencil at the upper left of the reverse "Antonelli," with a cursive ink signature reading "Card. Antonelli" at the lower center. The photographer's imprint on the reverse reads "Fratoddi / Via Felice n° 108 / Roma."