1. VITTORIO SELLA. Wellenkuppe and Gabelhorn, from the Moraine of the Gabelhorn Glacier, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVI 380. 11x14.8" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 13x16.5" gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Wellenkuppe and Gabelhorn / VI 380. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink: 380. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Loan 65 / 380.

2. VITTORIO SELLA. Dent Blanche and Weisshorn, from the Rimpfischhorn, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVI 389. 15.1x11.3" collodion, printed c. 1893, mounted on 13.6x17.3" brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Dent Blanche and Weisshorn from the Rimpfischhorn; inscribed in pencil: 389. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: 153/389; paper label inscribed in ink: gift of / Miss Ann Chace.

Dente Blanche in the Pennini Alps has four steep faces rising over four glaciers. The summit of Dent Blanche is an important geographic place as it is the converging point of three ridges. The three valleys separated by them are the Val d'Herens, Val d'Annivers and Mattertal.

The Weisshorn is a major peak of Switzerland and the Alps, culminating at 4,506 metres (14,783 feet) above sea level. It is part of the Pennine Alps and is located between the valleys of Anniviers and Zermatt in the canton of Valais.

The Weisshorn and the Dom are only two of the many 4000-metre peaks surrounding the region of Zermatt, along with the Zinalrothorn, the Dent Blanche, the Dent d'Hérens, the Matterhorn and, second highest in the Alps, Monte Rosa.

During his lifetime Vittorio Sella was celebrated for the photographs he exhibited from his daring expeditions. According to one reviewer, his annual exhibition of mountain photographs at the Alpine Club in London was "inconveniently crowded." Sella sold his prints to people from Italy, France, Germany, and England, and was represented by a London dealer named Spooner. His photographs satisfied a growing public hunger to know more about distant places on the earth that few would ever see first-hand, while providing a satisfying blend of artistic, scientific, intellectual, and even spiritual elements. Sella's primary goal was to provide the empirical evidence of what he and his party had seen on their expeditions, and to convey reality as it was perceived by the human eye. His approach was governed by rigorous technical and aesthetic standards that he called "la realta severe," or severe reality.

1. 380 F Good: Wear, edge wear, scratches, spots abrasions and dirt, emulsion rubs edges. Mount has edge and corner wear, marks, and dirt.

2. 389 Very Good: Minor wear, edge wear, scratches, spots abrasions and dirt, emulsion rubs edges. Mount has edge and corner wear, marks, and dirt.