A full-length portrait of Pope Pius IX, known popularly as Pio Nono, rendered as an albumen silver print on a carte-de-visite mount dating to the period of his pontificate, 1846 to 1878. The figure stands in a three-quarter pose against a draped studio backdrop, the image consistent in format and presentation with the wide commercial trade in papal portrait CDVs that flourished across Catholic Europe and beyond during the mid to late nineteenth century. No photographer's imprint appears on the mount.

The subject is shown wearing the full white papal cassock with pellegrina cape and a pectoral cross suspended from a cord at the chest. To his left stands an ornate high-backed throne chair with carved finials and fringe trim; to his right, a draped table supports a radiant cross reliquary and a Marian figurine, details that reinforce the papal and devotional character of the composition. The subject's expression is composed, his stance upright, his right hand resting at his side.

Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius IX reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1846 until his death in 1878, making him the longest-reigning pope since the Apostle St. Peter. He formally adopted the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and organized the First Vatican Council, which enshrined the doctrine of papal infallibility. He was beatified on September 3, 2000, by Pope John Paul II.

Inscribed in pencil on the reverse: "Pio Nino (9)" (Italian popular form of "Pius IX," with a parenthetical numeral clarifying the regnal number).