VIERO, Th. - Uomo del Canale di Noël della terra del Fuoco, nel Mar Australe. / Homme du Canal de Noël de la terre de Feu dans la Mer Australe.

 
This engraved print on laid paper is from "Raccolta di stampe," a series of historically significant eighteenth-century copper plate engravings by Venetian engraver Theodoro Viero (1740-1819). Dating from 1783-90, it is titled in both Italian and French. 

The series included people of Central Asia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North Africa, and more distant locations, including Peru and the newly mapped Pacific.
Born in Bassano, Italy, Theodoro Viero studied under Venetian engraver Niccolò Cavalli, before settling in Venice and establishing his business as a miniaturist, burin engraver and print publisher. While publishing many plates by other printmakers, his own output included reproductions of works by Venetian masters, including Canaletto, Tiepolo, and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. 

Produced during the last days of the 1100-year-old independent Venetian Republic (before being conquered by Napoleon in 1797), the presence in this folio of images of the Doge and Dogaressa suggests that "Raccolta di ? stampe" was at least a partial tribute to Venice's rulers, at that time still living symbols of Venetian power and wealth, their palazzo filled with treasures from the farthest corners of the globe.