Unusual late 19th-century cabinet card photograph from Palermo, Italy, featuring a surreal and darkly whimsical scene: a uniformed cavalryman, seemingly headless, rides a white horse through an artificial outdoor setting. In a bizarre and theatrical twist, the man's head appears impaled on a stick extending vertically from the saddle, held upright in front of his torso. His uniform and posture suggest a formal military bearing, but the presentation leans heavily into absurdity and visual illusion.

The card bears the backstamp of Napoleone C. Russo, a photographer active in Palermo, Sicily. The elaborate studio backdrop, complete with architectural ruins and dense faux foliage, reflects the highly staged nature of continental European studio portraiture of the era. Whether intended as satire, visual trickery, or an early example of macabre photographic humor, the image stands out for its deliberate surrealism and theatrical execution.

Cabinet cards of this nature—blending costume, constructed illusion, and deadpan absurdity—are rarely encountered, especially outside the realm of novelty or fantasy studio portraits. An extraordinary example of 19th-century photographic eccentricity from Southern Europe, offering both historical intrigue and collector appeal.