VITTORIO SELLA. Seracs of Madrone Glacier, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AXI 942. 11.4x15.4" collodion print, printed c. 1893, mounted on 16 1/2x12 1/8" heavy brown board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: 942. Seracs of Madrone Glacier; Inscribed in pencil: A; Inscribed in blue pencil: XI; Stamped in ink on mount verso: Depose / Tous Droits Reserves / V. Stella - Biella; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner.

Monte Mandrone 3283m 10771ft is in the Adamello-Presanella Alps in Italy. The Adamello-Presanella Group is separated from the Ortler Alps in the north by the Tonale Pass; from the Bergamo Alps in the west by the Oglio valley (Val Camonica); from the Brenta Group in the east by the Campo Carlo Magno Pass and the river Sarca; to the south it continues towards Lake Iseo.

Vittorio Sella was born in 1859 into a wealthy, politically influential family in the Piedmont town of Biella, Italy. As a boy his classical studies included Greek and Latin along with painting lessons, in which he excelled. He was introduced to the recently invented art of photography by his father, a textile mill owner named Venanzio Giuseppe Sella and his uncle, Quintino Sella, a famous Italian minister of finance, both of whom were enthusiasts of the new art. In 1856, Venanzio published a treatise on photography that was translated into German and French and was included in Roret's Encyclopedic. Quintino Sella not only founded the still-active Italian Alpine Club, but also took his young nephew hiking through the Alps as he taught him to love the mountains.

Good: Moderate wear, spots, abrasions, dirt. Mount has dirt, marks tears, edge and corner wear. 3/4" tear in upper edge of backing and print.