VITTORIO SELLA. Gross Grunhorn, from west ridge of the Rinsteraarhorn, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AIX 245. 15.2x11.2" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 13x16.5" gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Gross Grunhorn / IX 245. Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in ink: 245. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: 245.

Vittorio Sella (1859-1943) began serious mountain climbing and photography when he was a teenager mastering the wet plate technique and making panoramas by 1880. By 1879 he began to use dry plates and in 1880 began a series of winter views in the Alps. Every holiday, summer and winter, Sella was in the nearby mountains, often carrying an old photographic apparatus that had belonged to his father.

He climbed and photographed in the Alps annually making the first winter ascents of a number or prominent peaks including the Matterhorn in 1882 and the first winter hike across Mont Blanc in 1884. His panoramas were up to 12 plates and 360 degrees. Photography and mountain climbing were family affairs, and most climbs would be with his brother Erminio a couple of other companions and guides including Daniel Maquignaz and later his assistant photographic assistant Emile Bota.

Very Good: Mild wear, abrasions, dirt, corner emulsion wear. Mount has dirt, marks, corner and edge wear.