VITTORIO SELLA. Weisshorn and Dent Blanche, from Dent d'Herens, 13,708 feet, c. 1879-1892, Sella number AVI 281. 11.2x14.9" collodion print, printed c. 1893, flush mounted on thin board, mounted on 12.2x15.8" heavy gray board. Inscribed in ink on mount recto: Alps / Weisshorn and (281) Dent Blanche / AVI.; Print recto embossed with artist's credit stamp in bottom right corner; inscribed in black ink: 281. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso: Loan 57; inscribed in blue pencil: 281 / A.

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 rhythm and form of glaciers spreading from and up mountain peaks, forming rivers and bowls around and up to the highest peaks were a compelling composition for Vittorio Sella.

Sellas photographs of glaciers have been used for studies of glacial loss in Africa, the Causasus, Himalayas and the Alps since the 1950s.

Vittorio Sella (1859-1943) was the leading large-format mountaineering photographer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, renowned for his spectacular high-altitude photographs of glacial floes, peaks, and valleys. Sella traveled the world, photographing in the European Alps, the Caucasus, Mt. Saint Elias (Alaska Yukon Border), and the Himalayan Sikkim. In the early 1900s he photographed mountains in the Africa Ruwanzari and the Himalayan Karakoram.

Fair: 281 Very Good: Mild abrasions, minor wear, corner wear and edge wear. Mount has minor edge and corner wear, dirt and marks.