One picture of this photographer became world famous: the group portrait of an entire family of artists gathered together. Yet its author was often overlooked. Not understood by those around him as an artist working in photography, he grew isolated toward the end of his life, and his work fell into obscurity after his death. This book presents his extraordinary photographic work and tells the story of his life, spent almost entirely in the family villa built by his grandfather, from where he documented landscape, people, events, and customs of his valley over a long period -- historical photography between artistic ambition and meticulous documentation.