An Austrian view of the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - From 1857 to 1859 the frigate Novara circumnavigated the world and became the first Austrian warship to make a port call in the Philippines. It was basically a scientific mission under the patronage of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, with renowned Austrian scholars aboard. One of them was Karl Scherzer, who wrote an extraordinary book on this mission.

It became a bestseller, not only in Austria, but in all German speaking countries, all together the second most successful popular scientific work in the German language in the 19th century, second only to Alexander von Humbold’s five-volume Cosmography. Approximately 30,000 copies of Scherzer’s book were sold, a huge number in that era!

An English version was published shortly after by Saunders, Otley and Co. in London in three volumes 1861-1863, containing more than 1,200 pages. The complete title of the book is: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate “Novara” (B. von Wullersdorf-Urbair), Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander in-Chief of the Austrian Navy.

Austrian Snapshots of day-to-day life in Manila in 1858

I would like to introduce here some reprints of very credible illustrations based on the work of an Austrian artist, Josef Selleny, the official painter in the scientific team of the Novara. The drawings and aquarelles of Selleny served as models for most of the illustrations in Scherzer’s publications. These unique sketches depicted day-to-day life in the Philippines by a very talented and well-known Austrian artist who contributed substantially to the success of Scherzer’s work.

The visit of the Novara to Manila took place from June 15-25, 1858. Photography was already recognized theoretically but did not come in handy during the expedition. Reports that photographs were taken but later lost during the wars could never be verified. I have not seen any of these photographs and I personally think they never existed.

Instead of a photographer, an official artist was commissioned aboard the ship. Joseph Selleny painted approximately 2,000 aquarelles and drawings from this mission: amazing pictures by brush and pencil from foreign places like Manila.

The story of the Novara expedition 1857-59 is an outstanding piece of history, also about the Philippines. There is no doubt only very few people who are aware that there is also an English edition of this interesting historical source regarding an Austrian visit to Manila and its vicinity in 1858; it is a first-hand report of the encounter of a team of illustrious and respected Austrian scientists in the Philippines in 1858.

Selleny was the “cameraman” of the expedition. He was born in 1824 in Vienna, educated at the Academy of Fine Arts and got a chance to travel to various countries in Europe for study visits. He made the acquaintance of the brother of Emperor Franz Josef, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (who later became the emperor of Mexico); the Archduke appreciated and promoted his work when he was still unknown as an artist. Selleny also devoted himself to landscape gardening: he became the creator of the renowned Viennese City Park (Wiener Stadtpark) which was designed in the style of English gardens, which today remains to be a major tourist attraction of Vienna. He unfortunately developed a nervous disorder and moved to Southern Tyrol where he created some impressive oil paintings of the mountain scenery. His illness forced him to return to Vienna where he died at the age of 51 in May 1875.

In his heart he always remained an artist; he obviously did not manage to become rich, despite his prominence. After his death his sisters engaged in a legal dispute with the Austrian Navy concerning the property rights to his paintings from the Novara mission. The pictures were still in Selleny’s possession at the time of his death but obviously belonged to the Austrian Navy. A judicial compromise was reached, which took into account how impoverished his sisters were and allegedly that Selleny had informed them that the pictures had finally been donated to him by Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. After an odyssey following the end of World War I a substantial part of his works from the Novara mission ended up in Viennese museums. Today the Österreichische Gallerie Belvedere (Austrian Gallery Belvedere), the Albertina and the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum (Museum of Military History) as well as the Naturgeschichtliches Museum (Museum on Natural History) in Vienna have some of Selleny’s works from this unique naval mission.

The copyright of Scherzer’s book ceased to exist a long time ago and is now public domain, including the engravings based on Selleny’s work. I recently published a book on the visit of the Austrian frigate Novara in the Philippines in 1858. The reprint of Scherzer’s narrative (70 pages) about the Philippines is the centerpiece of this book, which I consider an interesting first-hand source of information about this Spanish colony during the 19th century.

The author is the Austriam ambassador the the Philippines. His book, “An Austrian View of the Philippines 1858” published by e-publi GmbH – Verlagsgruppe Holtzbrinck, Berlin is available at amazon.com.