Josef Selleny
Joseph Selleny, also known as Seleny or Sellény, was born on February 2, 1824 in Untermeidling, today part of Vienna, and died on May 22, 1875 in Inzersdorf near Vienna. He was an Austrian landscape painter, watercolorist, draughtsman and lithographer.
Selleny was born at Untermeidling 34, now known as Schönbrunner Straße 34, although Mödling is often incorrectly given as his birthplace. He studied at the Vienna Academy under the guidance of Thomas Ender and Franz Steinfeld. He then undertook a study trip through Tyrol and Lombardy to Venice together with his fellow painter Eduard Ender. Thanks to a scholarship from the Vienna Academy, Selleny was able to embark on a further study trip to Rome and Naples in 1854/55.
During his career, Selleny had the opportunity to meet Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the emperor’s brother, who appreciated and supported his work. This connection enabled him to take part in the Novara Expedition, a scientific circumnavigation of the world that was largely driven by the Archduke. Under the leadership of Commodore Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, Selleny took part in this expedition, which lasted from April 30, 1857 to August 26, 1859 and began and ended in Trieste.
Selleny’s work contributed significantly to the success of the Novara expedition. He created around 2000 watercolors, sketches, studies and drafts that documented the impressions of the individual stations and countries visited by the frigate SMS Novara. His impressive and vivid pictures served as templates for numerous lithographs illustrating the reports on this voyage and were published in newspapers and magazines.
Selleny’s authentic pictures were made accessible to a wide audience through the extremely successful publications on the Novara trip. In particular, most of the 224 illustrations in Karl von Scherzer’s book were based on Selleny’s drawings. The book achieved a total print run of 30,000 copies and was one of the most successful works of its kind in the 19th century throughout the German-speaking world.
After the Novara expedition, Selleny accompanied Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on trips to North Africa, the Cape Verde and Canary Islands and Brazil. After these trips, he settled in Vienna as a freelance artist, where he was already very well known. In addition to his work as an artist, Selleny also made a name for himself as a garden architect. Among other things, he designed the gardens of the Vienna City Park (1862) and the gardens of Miramare Palace near Trieste, the residence of Archduke Maximilian and Charlotte of Belgium.
In 1873, Selleny was commissioned by the imperial family to paint the large murals in the imperial villa in Bad Ischl in Upper Austria.
Selleny, who mastered a variety of techniques, concentrated mainly on landscapes in his paintings, which were either painted on location as watercolors or in the studio from models. His direct and lively depiction was often praised. His designs for parks and gardens were the subject of controversy.
Due to a nervous disorder, Selleny moved to South Tyrol, where the commander of the Novara expedition also lived. There he painted impressive landscapes in oil, including imposing rocky landscapes. Due to his illness, however, he had to return to Vienna and was admitted to the mental hospital in Inzersdorf near Vienna, where he died at the age of 51.
Selleny was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery (1-2-5) in a grave dedicated in honor of the City of Vienna. Sellenygasse in Vienna’s second district was named after him.
A considerable number of Selleny’s original paintings from the Novara expedition are now in the collections of the Museum of Military History in Vienna, the Albertina Graphic Collection and the Austrian Belvedere Gallery, as well as in private ownership. Some of these pictures can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Military History.