The photography expeditions of an Italian in the mighty Himalayas

Kangchenjunga in 1899 was a complicated destination at the time. The British were in dispute with Tibet about what they perceived as undue Russian influence in Lhasa and were determined to force open trade routes. The natural route was through Sikkim, so any British reconnaissance expedition there was likely to be viewed with mistrust by the Tibetans. Douglas Freshfield, the leader of the expedition, was a supporter of the British position and of Sir Francis Younghusband, who later led the punitive raid on Tibet in 1904. Moreover, any circumnavigation of the mountain involved an incursion into Nepal, which was also a closed kingdom. It was all still relatively uncharted and certainly unphotographed, so it was a genuinely exploratory expedition in which they frequently got lost – or at least were unsure which pass led where – so life cannot have been easy for the official photographer.

Some of Vittorio Sella’s plates were, therefore, understandably more of geographical record than of aesthetic interest. But others are of a startling quality, like those of Siniolchun [image 1]; or give a sense of the vastness of the landscape, with the porters who proceed ahead of the camera providing a sense of scale [banner image]. He...

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