Johann Baptist Sellinger

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Johann Baptist Sellinger (born August 30, 1714 in Merdingen im Breisgau , † December 14, 1779 in Inzlingen near Lörrach ) was a southwest German sculptor of the Baroque . The Merdingen teacher and art historian Hermann Brommer researched his life and work and treated them in three essays.

Gasthaus "Sonne" in Merdingen
Sellinger's signature under a contract dated 1754

Life

The Sellinger family can be traced back to the village of Merdingen on the western flank of the Tuniberg soon after the Thirty Years War . Johann Baptist was the sixth of eleven children of Mathias Sellinger († August 28, 1722) and Anna Sellinger geb. Würthin († March 11, 1748). The birthplace was today's Gasthaus "Sonne" in Merdingen. From whom Johann Baptist learned sculpture is unknown. His journeyman journey took him in 1733 to the workshop of the Strasbourg master François Ludwig Foisset (1687–1745), who had already visited Johann Christian Wentzinger a year earlier , and then apparently to Paris, Amsterdam and Antwerp.

The next trace of life can be found on his only two signed works. One is a crucifix now in the parish church of St. Georg in Sankt Georgen , a district of Freiburg im Breisgau , but originally set up in front of the church on Basler Landstrasse . The trunk bears the inscription "Sellinger fecit a Mörting 1752". Files from the parish reveal that Sellinger only created the body of the crucifix, and that it was made of red sandstone from Pfaffenweiler . The other work is the portal decoration of the chancellery building of the Maltese Castle in Heitersheim , namely a splendid heraldic cartouche and the statues of Fides and Justitia . The base of the Justitia bears the inscription "Seelinger fecit de Mördingen 1752".

From 1753 Sellinger was naturalized in the city of Freiburg. He competed with Fidelis Sporer and Johann Christian Wentzinger . In December 1754, after paying a purchase price of 200 florins, naturalization took place with the acceptance into the building guild "zum Mond". In the fall of 1953 Sellinger married Maria Margaritha geb. Staudin or Stauderin. He had three children with her, a daughter Maria Franziska in 1756, a daughter Maria Agatha in 1757, who married an Inzlingen bailiff of the Freiherren Reich von Reichenstein in 1777 , and in 1759 a son Dominikus Johannes Baptista, who initially studied theology, but later “among the soldiers went ". In November 1754 Sellinger bought the house "Zum hintern Streitstein" in Freiburg's Schiffgasse 4.

The family's work was barely making a living. In 1775 it is said that he "notoriously gave up his art because of old age". When he was working in Altkirch in Alsace in 1779 , he fell ill and was transported to his daughter in Inzlingen, where he died after forty hours in the Inzling moated castle . His wife, the “widowed sculptor”, died on December 7, 1784 in Freiburg.

Works

The list completely names the dated works according to Brommer's third essay from 1979, in which he corrects some information from the first essays. Undated works, many in private ownership, will follow in a selection.

Dated works

1752 - From the St. Georgen crucifix, Brommer obtained the stylistic features for the attribution of further works in 1962. The body of the crucified is arched athletically, the chest muscular, the body drawn in below. In typical fashion, the beard shows two curls twisted out at the tip of the chin. The draping of the loincloth is particularly noteworthy. Tied around the waist with ropes, hanging slightly on the right side, it wraps itself in strong folds and twists in front of the pubic area, to fall as a cascade of material to below the knee on the left side with heavily booked folds.

Maltese Castle Heitersheim

1752 - Heraldic cartouche and portal figures on the chancellery building of the Maltese Castle in Heitersheim.

1753 - Stone crucifix in the garden of St. Georgener Wendlinger Straße 32. The founder, Johann Georg Schitterer, belonged to the Sellingers family.

St. Remigius, Merdingen

1753 - Wooden statue of St. Remigius of Reims in the Merdinger parish church of St. Remigius . The style is clearly pronounced on the 107 cm high statue: "A mustache rises from the thin, protruding upper lip, which ends in two thick corkscrew curls of the full beard."

1753 and 1754 - Statues of St. Johannes Nepomuk and the Immaculata on the bridge over the Neumagen in Bad Krozingen , the former 205, the latter 240 cm high. The Nepomuk was donated by Vogt Joseph Moser from Krozingen, who had been Sellinger's best man for a cousin. On April 20, 1945, two Krozingers fetched the statues from the bridge and saved them, because the bridge was blown up by German soldiers the next day.

1754 - Heraldic decorations on the Merdinger rectory.

Wendelin on the Merdinger Laufbrunnen

1756 - Statue of St. Wendelin on the Laufbrunnen at the southern end of the Merdinger Stockbrunnengasse. "JB Sellinger can be recognized in the wrinkled elaboration of the knee-length skirt as well as in the typical type of the bearded Wendelinus face."

1756 - Housing decoration of the organ of the monastery of St. Katharina von Siena or St. Catharina von Senis on the Graben in Freiburg, which was closed in 1786 , now in the Protestant church in Feuerbach (Kandern) .

1758 - Stone crucifix in Staufen im Breisgau , under the plane trees on Bonneville-Platz.

1759 - Stone crucifix next to the entrance to the parish church of St. Leodegar in Biengen , now part of Bad Krozingen.

1759 - Saints Sebastian and Blasius von Sebaste , angels children and other carvings on the left side altar of the parish church of St. Peter and Paul in Kappel (Freiburg im Breisgau) . The center of the reredos is a crescent moon Madonna by Hans Wydyz .

1760 - Stone crucifix in front of the parish church of St. Agnes in Eschbach near Heitersheim. Originally the cross was in the cemetery. The head with the typical treatment of the eye area, beard and scalp hair as well as an exaggeratedly muscular chest over a sunken body characterize the Eschbach crucified according to Brommer perfectly as Sellinger's hand.

1761 - Stone statue of St. Ulrich von Augsburg above the main portal of the parish church of St. Ulrich in Rheinhausen-Oberhausen . “If only this Udalricus sculpture were known, Sellinger would have deserved not to be forgotten as a sculptor alone. <...> Under the cloak of smoke flowing back from the right forearm, a sitting, fat putto with a fish, the attribute of the saint, nestles in the arms at the foot of the figure. "

1763 - Decoration of the pulpit in the parish church of St. Vincentius in Neuershausen, a district of March (Breisgau) . Sellinger created Johannes the Baptist on the sound cover, a Holy Spirit dove and putti.

1763 - Statues of Saints Maurus and Apollinaris of Ravenna on the high altar of the parish church of St. Sebastian in Schlatt , a district of Bad Krozingen. They show the same style as Ulrich from Oberhausen, but are much more rugged. They “reveal the temperament of the sculptor, but they cannot hide their tough character. On closer inspection, the decorative make-up of the robes appears intrusive, almost exaggerated, probably used deliberately to cover up the weak effect of the roughly worked faces and hands ”.

1763 - "The remarkably well-made" processional sculptures of Saints Kolumba and Servatius in the parish church of St. Kolumba in Pfaffenweiler "are also considered Sellinger's works".

1764 - "Herz Mariae" in the church of Schlatt. "Beams of rays, clouds and foliage <...> frame the heart, which is followed by an arc of foliage <...> on the right and left."

1765 - Statue of St. Nepomuk in front of the castle mill in Altsimonswald, a district of Simonswald . It looks like a repetition of the Bad Krozingen bridge saint, but it has aged significantly. "Was JB Sellinger referring to himself?"

1769 - Fountain Stock of the city fountain of Vosges -Gemeinde Masevaux , badly weathered.

Immaculata in Kirchhofen
Saint Joseph from the Staufen Johanneskapelle

1770 - The stone crucifix at the intersection of Staufener Straße / B 3 in Bad Krozingen near the Sonneck house "shows a representation of the crucified of above-average quality."

Undated works

  • Stone tavern sign for the “Sonne” inn in Merdingen; in the gable of a house northwest of it a Bacchus mask from the former courtyard arch.
  • Wall cross in St. Ulrich in Rheinhausen-Oberhausen, where, as mentioned above, there is also a statue of Ulrich.
  • Saint Nepomuk on the bridge over the Johannisbach in Buchheim, like Neuershausen district of March (Breisgau) .
  • Maria Immaculata above the western, bar-framed Gothic main portal of the Church of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt in Kirchhofen, a district of the Ehrenkirchen community on the southern slope of the Batzenberg . Between the figure and the pointed arch of the portal, a grave memorial created in 1772 by the Ehrenstetter sculptor Joseph Donner (1731–1773) for his parents was placed and the whole neo-baroque frame was framed.
  • Saint Joseph from the side altar of the Johanneskapelle on the Dürenbuck above Staufen im Breisgau .

Appreciation

Brommer quotes the opinion of the Senate of the Freiburg University on Sellinger's efforts for civil rights, namely that Christian Wentzinger is "far superior to the latter in his art". Brommer acknowledges that Wentzinger was superior. With this value judgment alone, however, one does not do justice to Sellinger's importance in the local history. “He, who found his own, unmistakable style, was denied high artistic fame, although his works belong to the endearing cultural assets of numerous communities in the Breisgau.” Similarly, on the 300th birthday, it was written: “Sellinger had to hide with his skills Not. He is one of those masters who were able to work both materials, stone and wood, with ease. The facial expressions and body shapes of his sculptures, which appear overemphasized when looking closely, and the movement of the robes were intentional. ”Their expression should have impressed the viewer as they walk past, as well as when kneeling in the pew. "And his works still succeed today."

literature

  • Hermann Brommer: Johann Baptist Sellinger. A Baroque sculptor from Breisgau (1714–1779). Life history and family relationships. In: Schau-ins-Land 80, 1962, pp. 51-69 ( digitized version ).
  • Hermann Brommer: Johann Baptist Sellinger. A Baroque sculptor from Breisgau (1714–1779). Works and importance in art history. In: Schau-ins-Land 81, 1963, pp. 66–98 ( digitized version ).
  • Hermann Brommer: Johann Baptist Sellinger (1714–1779). News about the life and work of the Breisgau Baroque sculptor. In: Schau-ins-Land 98, 1979, pp. 59-80 ( digitized version ).
  • Manfred Frietsch: Master of Expression. 300 years of Johann Baptist Sellinger. In: Badische Zeitung of November 22, 2014, p. 39.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brommer 1962, p. 55.
  2. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 71.
  3. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 62.
  4. ↑ Hermann Flamm : Historical description of the place of the city of Freiburg i. Br. Volume 2: House number 1400–1806. Wagnersche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Freiburg 1903, p. 241.
  5. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 62.
  6. ↑ Brommer 1961, p. 13.
  7. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 66-68, photography, p. 67.
  8. ↑ Brommer 1979, pp. 70-71. Photographs p. 69 and 71 and Frietsch 2014.
  9. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 68-69.
  10. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 74-75, photography p. 85; Frietsch 2014.
  11. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 75–78 and 84–86, photographs p. 77 and 87 and Frietsch 2014; Dagmar Zimdars (arrangement): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Baden-Württemberg II, the administrative districts of Freiburg and Tübingen. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-422-03030-1 , p. 30.
  12. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 90-91; Dagmar Zimdars (arrangement): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Baden-Württemberg II, the administrative districts of Freiburg and Tübingen. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-422-03030-1 , p. 457.
  13. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 82–83, Photography Frietsch 2014.
  14. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 74, photography p. 75.
  15. ↑ Brommer 1963, p. 69.
  16. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 69-70.
  17. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 68.
  18. ↑ Brommer 1979, pp. 63-64.
  19. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 72–73 and Photography Brommer 1962, p. 69.
  20. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 79-80, photographs p. 81 and 91; Dagmar Zimdars (arrangement): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Baden-Württemberg II, the administrative districts of Freiburg and Tübingen. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-422-03030-1 , p. 479.
  21. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 73-74, photography p. 73; Dagmar Zimdars (arrangement): Handbook of German Art Monuments. Baden-Württemberg II, the administrative districts of Freiburg and Tübingen. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-422-03030-1 , p. 649.
  22. ↑ Sellinger had family ties to Pfaffenweiler and also painted four light sticks he had made in 1777 ; Edmund Weeger: Pfaffenweiler a local history , Pfaffenweiler 1997, p. 115 f. Attribution by Hermann Brommer: Parish Church St. Columba Pfaffenweiler , Munich 1983, p. 5.
  23. ↑ Brommer 1963, p. 90.
  24. ↑ Brommer 1979, p. 68 and Photography, p. 66.
  25. ^ Charles Sauter: Jean-Baptiste Sellinger, sculpteur baroque du Brisgau, à Masevaux In: Annuaire de la Société d'Histoire des Régions de Thann-Guebwiller 10, 1973/74, pp. 71-72; Brommer 1979, pp. 74-75.
  26. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 70-71.
  27. ↑ J. Staubesand: Wegkreuze in Bad Krozingen 2007, p. 7.
  28. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 81–82 and 91.
  29. ↑ Brommer 1979, pp. 65-67.
  30. ↑ Brommer 1963, p. 79.
  31. ^ Brommer 1979, p. 70, Photography Frietsch 2014.
  32. ↑ Brommer 1963, pp. 89-90.
  33. ↑ Brommer 1961, p. 51.
  34. ↑ Frietsch 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Sellinger, Johann Baptist
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sculptor and wood carver
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1714
PLACE OF BIRTH Merdingen
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1779
Place of death Inzlingen