A hand-colored carte-de-visite depicting a woman in the traditional costume associated with wives of the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican, almost certainly produced in Rome during the 1860s or 1870s to meet tourist and souvenir demand for images of Vatican life. The Pontifical Swiss Guard, known in Italian as the Guardia Svizzera, is the military corps responsible for the security of the pope and the Holy See. The costume shown here reflects that institutional identity, and such CDVs were commonly issued as keepsakes for visitors to Rome.

The woman kneels in profile at a red ladder-back chair, her head bowed and her face turned downward in a posture of prayer or devotion. She wears a flowing red overskirt with a green underskirt beneath, a white blouse with a blue bodice, and a white lace head covering. A long rosary with a visible cross pendant falls from her hands and drapes across the chair seat, which is covered by a boldly striped red, blue, and orange textile. The image has been extensively hand-colored with vivid pigments applied throughout the figure and setting against a neutral olive-gray background.

The Swiss Guard's traditional colors of red, yellow, and blue are closely echoed in the woman's dress and the striped chair drape, reinforcing the costume's deliberate visual connection to the corps. CDVs depicting Swiss Guard families and costumed figures were a staple of the Roman souvenir trade throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, produced for the steady stream of pilgrims and Grand Tour travelers passing through the Vatican.

Inscribed in pencil on the reverse in two locations: "Swiss Guard i the Vatican" (Swiss Guard in the Vatican) in a print hand at upper center, and "swiss guard" in a cursive hand at lower center. No photographer's imprint visible.