Viking Age art

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 This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the Danish Wikipedia. (April 2011)
Timeline for the Norse animal styles.

Viking Age art is a term for the art of Scandinavia and Viking settlements elsewhere, especially in the British Isles, during the Viking Age. Viking art has many elements in common with Celtic Art, Romanesque art and East-European (Eurasian).[1]

Contents

Historical Context [edit]

The term "Norsemen" comes from "North men", referencing their place of origin. They were called the Vikings after the “trading places” from the Norwegian shoreline. Vikings terrorized Europe from 793 to the mid-11th century. Known as the pre-Christian traders and pirates of Scandinavian descents, they began to destroy the Christian monastic community on Lindisfarne Island, the Jarrow monastery, and the monastery on Iona Island. All of these attacks occurred after they landed on the British Isles. Normandy- which means "home of the Norsemen", who later came to be called Normans- was the name of the land the Vikings governed in Northern France during the early 10th century. The Vikings used their great ships to invade Europeans coasts, harbors and river settlements on a seasonal basis. Their voyages included heading east from Ireland to Russia, west to Iceland and Greenland and they reached Newfoundland before Christopher Columbus discovered the "New World". They created fast and seaworthy longships. The Vikings had a tailored way of succeeding all their attacks. They did not just hit and run, they colonized all the lands they occupied. This allowed them to grow and govern large areas of Ireland, England, France, Baltic regions and Russia.[2]

The Viking Ship and Oseberg Ship Burial [edit]

The main symbol of the Viking Age is the Viking ship. Not only was it used as a war and trade vessel, it demonstrated true individual design and art.[3] The great ships of the Vikings are the major art pieces left from this time. An exquisite example of their mastering of wood carving is the decoration of the Vikings’ great wooden ships. Archaeological findings show that the Nordic Viking ship was by no means a standard type vessel. It had designers' footprints and regional characteristics. For example, the materials of the vessels could vary from regional forests such as pine from Norway and Sweden or oak from Denmark. The vessels were also adjusted to fit the natural force they were to be facing. Generally, these ships were built to unite lightweight, elasticity and structural stability. This was obtained by proper selection of materials combined with superb workmanship.[4]

An example of this comes from a ship burial in Norway, near the sea at Oseberg. It’s over 70 feet long and held the remains of two women and many precious objects that were probably removed by robbers early before it was found. The head is 5 inches high and dates back to 834. It is currently located at the Viking Ship Museum, Bygdøy. The head of the ship represents a roaring beast with surface ornamentation in the form of interwoven animals that twist and turn as they are gripping and snapping.[5]

A "Shield List" is where all the shields of the warriors were tied up. The board or plans was a very interesting feature of the war vessel since it was painted in various colours. "King" or "Chieftan" vessels are ones for luxury class. They were much wider and had more room than the normal vessels. A chieftan was distinguishable from the design of the bow of their vessel. This could involve various types of design such as lions in gold, drakes spewing fire out of their nose, human beings in gold and silver, besides bulls, dolphins in bronze and a number of unknown animals in cast metal. The sides of the these vessels were decorated using bright colours and wood-carvings. The King's vessel would be the most decorated.[6]

The head of the vessel expresses the union of animal forms and interlace pattern. These are two core aspects of warrior-lord art that took place at the North frontier of the former Roman Empire.[7]

Brooches and other objects [edit]

In the autumn of 1915, on the shore of Lewis, a group of ornaments buried during the Viking period were found. Some of these ornaments were bronze brooches, ornaments that had detailed interlaced patterns, buckles and an iron knife. Looking at the size of the burial, a Scandinavian woman probably wore some of these ornaments since it is typical of this time period. These ornaments are also influenced by Celtic art. This is evident in the large oval shape of the brooches. The brooches have reappeared. Seven of the brooches were connected together by bands of metal sand the spaces between them formed sunk panels that were decorated with animal ornament. This decoration can be attributed to earlier representation of lions or other creatures from Roman art that gradually lost their identity when northern artists copied them and became to have strange shapes. At Pierowall in Orkney a Viking cemetery was dug up and a penannular brooch found. It has very interesting design since it combines the styles of Celtic and Scandinavian art. It is very unique of the Viking period, it has a diameter of 2 inches and left traces of gilding. The center of the ornament is now empty and might have been filled with a piece of amber. Surrounding the empty space is a band of chevrons and wider band of interlaced work formed of three cords making alternately a closed and an open loop.[8]

Technical Analysis [edit]

During the 11th century many of the Scandinavians became Christians. However, their abstract art was still persisting. The decoration of the wooden portal of the stave church located in Urnes, Norway is abstractly made up of animal forms that tightly inter-wine with flexible plant stalks following a spiral rhythm. This is one of the few remains left from this time which were later incorporated in the walls of a 12th-century church. During this time while the abstract and animal motifs were spreading in art, the northern Europe Christian missionaries were building monasteries and sponsoring art with Christian content which was very different from art created before.[9]

Gallery [edit]

  • Ladbyskibet. Only the dragons coily mane made of iron remains.

  • Copies of the two golden horns of Gallehus

  • Gundestrupkarret (the Gundestrup Cauldron) is a Celtic style cauldron found in Denmark

  • Solvognen from the Bronze Age

  • The backside of the solvogn

  • Copy of the Cammin shrine

  • Oseberg longship from the front.

  • Oseberg longship bow detail

  • Oseberg ship head post

  • Urnes stave church

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ *Maurizio Tani, Le origini mediterranee ed eurasiatiche dell’arte vichinga. Casi esemplari dall’Islanda, in Studi Nordici (Roma), XIII, 2006, pp. 81–95
  2. ^ Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.
  3. ^ Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.
  4. ^ Bruun, The Viking Ship,” 1283
  5. ^ Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.
  6. ^ Bruun, The Viking Ship,” 1288.
  7. ^ Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.
  8. ^ Curle, “A Find of Viking Relics in the Hebrides,” 241.
  9. ^ Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

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