Vittorio Sella

Vittorio Sella (1859-1943) - Ghiacciaio di Verra, Breithorn, 1890s/1900s Gelatin silver print cm 28,3 x 37,7 | 11.2 x 14.8 in. Photographer's credit blindstamp on the image Of the great Biellese photographer, Vittorio Sella, one can equally appreciate, on one hand, his ability to tackle a subject as novel in the late 19th century as mountain photography and, on the other, the meticulous precision with which he made his prints. In order to realise those works that would later be defined with a neologism 'photo-mountaineering', one had to be an appreciable climber, also considering the fact that one had to move around with heavy equipment, as unwieldy as the optical benches of the past were and as fragile as the glass plates that served as negatives. But it is not only that sense of grandeur that transpires from his images that makes his photographs valuable, but also the technique he himself invented, thanks to which he made particularly refined and valuable prints, as can be seen in the photographs shown here.