Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

Norsemen The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pr ...

and

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlements further afield—particularly in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

—during the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

of the 8th-11th centuries. Viking art has many design elements in common with Celtic, Germanic, the later Romanesque and Eastern European art, sharing many influences with each of these traditions. Generally speaking, the current knowledge of Viking art relies heavily upon more durable objects of

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

and

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

;

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

and textiles are more rarely preserved. The artistic record, therefore, as it has survived to the present day, remains significantly incomplete. Ongoing archaeological excavation and opportunistic finds, of course, may improve this situation in the future, as indeed they have in the recent past. Viking art is usually divided into a sequence of roughly chronological styles, although outside Scandinavia itself local influences are often strong, and the development of styles can be less clear.

Historical context

Viking - Whale-Bone Plaque - Walters 711169

The Vikings' regional origins lay in Scandinavia, the northernmost peninsula of continental Europe, while the term 'Viking' likely derived from their own term for coastal raiding—the activity by which many neighboring cultures became acquainted with the inhabitants of the region. Viking raiders attacked wealthy targets on the north-western coasts of Europe from the late 8th until the mid-11th century CE. Pre-Christian traders and sea raiders, the Vikings first enter recorded history with their attack on the Christian monastic community on Lindisfarne Island in 793. The Vikings initially employed their

longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...

s to invade and attack European coasts, harbors and river settlements on a seasonal basis. Subsequently, Viking activities diversified to include trading voyages to the east, west, and south of their Scandinavian homelands, with repeated and regular voyages following river systems east into

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and the

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

and

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

regions, and west to the coastlines of the

and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. Evidence exists for Vikings reaching Newfoundland well before the later voyages of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

came to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. Trading and merchant activities were accompanied by settlement and colonization in many of these territories.Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume I, 288.

By material

Wood and organic materials

La pared original de la Urnes stavkyrkje (I)

Wood was undoubtedly the primary material of choice for Viking artists, being relatively easy to carve, inexpensive, and abundant in northern Europe. The importance of wood as an artistic medium is underscored by chance survivals of wood artistry at the very beginning and end of the Viking period, namely, the Oseberg ship-burial carvings of the early 9th century and the carved decoration of the Urnes Stave Church from the 12th century. As summarised by

James Graham-Campbell James Graham-Campbell (born 1947)"James Graham-Campbell"

Stone

With the exception of the Gotlandic picture stones prevalent in Sweden early in the Viking period, stone carving was apparently not practiced elsewhere in Scandinavia until the mid-10th century and the creation of the royal monuments at

Jelling Jelling is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 3,658 (1 January 2022), located in Jelling Parish, approximately 10 km northwest of Vejle. The town lies 105 metres above sea level. Location Jelling is located in Vejle municipal ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Subsequently, and likely influenced by the spread of Christianity, the use of carved stone for permanent memorials became more prevalent.

Metal

Beyond the discontinuous artifactual records of wood and stone, the reconstructed history of Viking art to date relies most on the study of decoration of ornamental

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

from a great variety of sources. Several types of archaeological context have succeeded in preserving metal objects for present study, while the durability of precious metals, in particular, has preserved much artistic expression and endeavor. Jewelry was worn by both men and women, though of different types. Married women fastened their overdresses near the shoulder with matching pairs of large brooches. Modern scholars often call them "tortoise brooches" because of their domed shape. The shapes and styles of women's paired brooches varied regionally, but many used

openwork Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...

. Women often strung metal chains or strings of beads between the brooches or suspended ornaments from the bottom of the brooches. Men wore rings on their fingers, arms and necks, and held their cloaks closed with

penannular brooch The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especial ...

es, often with extravagantly long pins. Their weapons were often richly decorated on areas such as sword hilts. The Vikings mostly used silver or bronze jewelry, the latter sometimes gilded, but a small number of large and lavish pieces or sets in solid gold have been found, probably belonging to royalty or major figures. Decorated metalwork of an everyday nature is frequently recovered from Viking period

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...

s, on account of the widespread practice of making burials accompanied by

grave good Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

s. The deceased was dressed in their best clothing and jewelry, and was interred with weapons, tools, and household goods. Less common, but significant nonetheless, are finds of precious metal objects in the form of treasure hoards, many apparently concealed for safe-keeping by owners later unable to recover their contents, although some may have been deposited as offerings to the gods. Recently, given the increasing popularity and legality of

metal-detecting A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...

, an increasing frequency of single, chance finds of metal objects and ornaments (most probably representing accidental losses) is creating a fast expanding corpus of new material for study. Viking coins fit well into this latter category, but nonetheless form a separate category of Viking period artefact, their design and decoration largely independent of the developing styles characteristic of wider Viking artistic endeavor.

Other sources

A non-visual source of information for Viking art lies in

skaldic verse A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

, the complex form of oral poetry composed during the Viking Age and passed on until written down centuries later. Several verses speak of painted forms of decoration that have but rarely survived on wood and stone. The 9th-century skald poet

Bragi Boddason Bragi Boddason, known as Bragi the Old (Old Norse: ''Bragi hinn gamli'') was a Norwegian skald active in the first half of the 9th century, the earliest known skald from whom verses have survived. Portions of his '' Ragnarsdrápa'' are preserved ...

, for example, cites four apparently unrelated scenes painted on a shield. One of these scenes depicted the god

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

's fishing expedition, which motif is also referenced in a 10th-century poem by Úlfr Uggason describing the paintings in a newly constructed hall in Iceland.

Origins and background

A continuous artistic tradition common to most of north-western Europe and developing from the 4th century CE formed the foundations on which Viking Age art and decoration were built: from that period onwards, the output of Scandinavian artists was broadly focused on varieties of convoluted animal ornamentation used to decorate a wide variety of objects. The art historian

Bernhard Salin Carl Bernhard Salin (14January 1861, Örebro20October 1931, Stockholm), was a Swedish archaeologist, cultural historian and museum curator. Bernhard Salin took the matriculation examination at the Public Grammar School in Nyköping 28May 1880 an ...

was the first to systematise Germanic animal ornament, dividing it into three styles (I, II, and III). The latter two were subsequently subdivided by Arwidsson into three further styles: Style C, flourishing during the 7th century and into the 8th century, before being largely replaced (especially in southern Scandinavia) by Style D. Styles C and D provided the inspiration for the initial expression of animal ornament within the Viking Age, Style E, commonly known as the Oseberg / Broa Style. Both Styles D and E developed within a broad Scandinavian context which, although in keeping with north-western European animal ornamentation generally, exhibited little influence from beyond Scandinavia .

Scholarship

Although preliminary formulations were made in the late 19th century, the history of Viking art first achieved maturity in the early 20th century with the detailed publication of the ornate wood carvings discovered in 1904 as part of the Oserberg ship-burial by the Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig. Importantly, it was the English archaeologist

David M. Wilson Sir David Mackenzie Wilson, FBA (born 30 October 1931) is a British archaeologist, art historian, and museum curator, specialising in Anglo-Saxon art and the Viking Age. From 1977 until 1992 he served as the Director of the British Museum, w ...

, working with his Danish colleague Ole Klindt-Jensen to produce the 1966 survey work ''Viking Art'', who created foundations for the systematic characterization of the field still employed today, together with a developed chronological framework. David Wilson continued to produce mostly English-language studies on Viking art in subsequent years, joined over recent decades by the Norwegian art-historian

Signe Horn Fuglesang Signe Horn Fuglesang (born 1938) is a Norwegian art historian and Professor Emerita at the University of Oslo, best known for her published research and writings on Viking art. She is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Bibl ...

with her own series of important publications. Together these scholars have combined authority with accessibility to promote the increasing understanding of Viking art as a cultural expression.

Styles

The art of the

is organized into a loose sequence of stylistic phases which, despite the significant overlap in style and chronology, may be defined and distinguished on account both of formal design elements and of recurring compositions and motifs: * Oseberg Style * Borre Style * Jellinge Style * Mammen Style * Ringerike Style * Urnes Style Unsurprisingly, these stylistic phases appear in their purest form in Scandinavia itself; elsewhere in the Viking world, notable admixtures from external cultures and influences frequently appear. In the British Isles, for example, art historians identify distinct, 'Insular' versions of Scandinavian motifs, often directly alongside 'pure' Viking decoration.

Oseberg Style

The Oseberg Style characterises the initial phase in what has been considered Viking art. The Oseberg Style takes its name from the Oseberg Ship grave, a well-preserved and highly decorated

discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, which also contained a number of other richly decorated wooden objects. A characteristic motif of the Oseberg Style is the so-called gripping beast. This motif is what clearly distinguishes the early Viking art from the styles that preceded it. The chief features of the gripping beast are the paws that grip the borders around it, neighbouring beasts or parts of its own body. Currently located at the Viking Ship Museum,

Bygdøy Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula situated on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy belongs to the borough of Frogner; historically Bygdøy was part of Aker Municipality and became part of Oslo in 1948. Bygdøy is a popul ...

, and over 70 feet long, the Oseberg Ship held the remains of two women and many precious objects that were probably removed by robbers early before it was found. The Oseberg ship itself is decorated with a more traditional style of animal interlace that does not feature the gripping beast motif. However, five carved wooden animal-head posts were found in the ship, and the one known as the ''Carolingian animal-head post'' is decorated with gripping beasts, as are other grave goods from the ship. The Carolingian head represents a snarling beast, possibly a wolf, with surface ornamentation in the form of interwoven animals that twist and turn as they are gripping and snapping. The Oseberg style is also characterized by traditions from the

Vendel era In Swedish prehistory, the Vendel Period ( sv, Vendeltiden; 540–790 AD) appears between the Migration Period and the Viking Age. The name is taken from the rich boat inhumation cemetery at Vendel parish church, Uppland. This is a period wi ...

, and it is nowadays not always accepted as an independent style.The article ''djurornamentik'' in ''

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 1 ...

'' (1991). Image:Carolingian animal-head post.jpg, Detail of the Carolingian animal-head post from the Oseberg ship burial, showing the gripping beast motif. Image:Osebergskipet-Detail.jpg, Detail from the Oseberg ship Image:Oseberg bow detail.JPG, Oseberg bow detail

Broa style

Stora och Lilla Ihre Grave 174 Pommel (310203)

The Broa style, named after a bridle-mount found at Broa, Halla parish, Gotland, is sometimes included with the Oseberg style, and sometimes held as its own. Image:Broa bridle (HST DIG56307).jpg, Photograph of the Broa bridle taken by Ola Myrin for the Swedish Historiska museet exhibit "The Viking World". Image:Broa_bridle_(HST_DIG56310).jpg, Front of the bridle. Image:Broa bridle (HST DIG56309).jpg, Right side relative to the horse. Image:Broa bridle (HST DIG56308).jpg, Left side relative to the horse. Image:Broa bridle (HST DIG49898).jpg, Detail of left side. Image:Broa bridle (HST DIG56311).jpg, Detail of mounts hanging from the bit.

Borre Style

The Borre Style embraces a range of geometric interlace / knot patterns and zoomorphic (single animal) motifs, first recognised in a group of gilt-bronze harness mounts recovered from a ship grave in Borre mound cemetery near the village of Borre,

, and from which the name of the style derives. Borre Style prevailed in Scandinavia from the late 9th through to the late 10th century, a timeframe supported by dendrochronological data supplied from sites with characteristically Borre Style artifacts The 'gripping beast' with a ribbon-shaped body continues as a characteristic of this and earlier styles. As with geometric patterning in this phase, the visual thrust of the Borre Style results from the filling of available space: ribbon animal plaits are tightly interlaced and animal bodies are arranged to create tight, closed compositions. As a result, any background is markedly absent – a characteristic of the Borre Style that contrasts strongly with the more open and fluid compositions that prevailed in the overlapping Jellinge Style. A more particular diagnostic feature of Borre Style lies in a symmetrical, double-contoured 'ring-chain' (or 'ring-braid'), whose composition consists of interlaced circles separated by transverse bars and a

lozenge Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments *Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...

overlay. The Borre ring-chain occasionally terminates with an animal head in high relief, as seen on strap fittings from Borre and Gokstad. The ridges of designs in metalwork are often nicked to imitate the filigree wire employed in the finest pieces of craftsmanship.

Jellinge Style

The Jellinge Style is a phase of

n animal art during the 10th century.The article ''jellingestil'' in ''

'' (1993). The style is characterized by markedly stylized and often band-shaped bodies of animals. It was originally applied to a complex of objects in

, such as Gorm's Cup and

Harald Bluetooth Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was a king of Denmark and Norway. He was the son of King Gorm the Old and of Thyra Dannebod. Harald ruled as king of Denmark from c. ...

's great runestone, but more recently the style is included in the Mammen style. Image:Skaill-jelling.gif Image:Varby-jelling.gif Image:Decoratiepatroon van reliekenhoorn (Scandinavië, 10e eeuw), Schatkamer OLV-basiliek, Maastricht.JPG

Mammen Style

The Mammen Style takes its name from its type object, an axe recovered from a wealthy male burial marked a mound (Bjerringhø) at

Mammen Mammen is a village in Viborg Municipality, Denmark 7 km north of Bjerringbro. Mammen is recognized as the production site of ''Mammen cheese'', a well known brand in Denmark. Mammen chamber tomb The Mammen area was the finding site of t ...

, in

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

, Denmark (on the basis of dendrochronology, the wood used in construction of the grave chamber was felled in winter 970–971). Richly decorated on both sides with inlaid silver designs, the iron axe was probably a ceremonial parade weapon that was the property of a man of princely status, his burial clothes bearing elaborate embroidery and trimmed with silk and fur. Camminskrinet

On one face, the Mammen axe features a large bird with pelleted body, crest, circular eye, and upright head and beak with lappet. A large shell-spiral marks the bird's hip, from which point its thinly elongated wings emerge: the right wing interlaces with the bird's neck, while the left wing interlaces with its body and tail. The outer wing edge displays a semi-circular nick typical of Mammen Style design. The tail is rendered as a triple tendril, the particular treatment of which on the Mammen axe – with open, hook-like ends – forming a characteristic of the Mammen Style as a whole. Complicating the design is the bird's head-lappet, interlacing twice with neck and right wing, whilst also sprouting tendrils along the blade edge. At the top, near the haft, the Mammen axe features an interlaced knot on one side, a triangular human mask (with large nose, moustache and spiral beard) on the other; the latter would prove a favoured Mammen Style motif carried over from earlier styles. On the other side, the Mammen axe bears a spreading foliate (leaf) design, emanating from spirals at the base with thin, 'pelleted' tendrils spreading and intertwining across the axe head towards the haft.

Ringerike Style

The Ringerike Style receives its name from the Ringerike district north of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

, Norway, where the local reddish

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

was widely employed for carving stones with designs of the style.Only one stone carved in this style, however, has been found in Ringerike itself, at Tanberg, cf. Fugelesang 1980:pl.38. Vangsteinen

The type object most commonly used to define Ringerike Style is a high carved stone from Vang in

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The c ...

. Apart from a runic memorial inscription on its right edge, the main field of the Vang Stone is filled with a balanced

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as '' Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tend ...

ornament springing from two shell spirals at the base: the main stems cross twice to terminate in lobed tendrils. At the crossing, further tendrils spring from loops and pear-shaped motifs appear from the tendril centres on the upper loop. Although axial in conception, a basic asymmetry arises in the deposition of the tendrils. Surmounting the tendril pattern appears a large striding animal in double-contoured rendering with spiral hips and a lip lappet. Comparing the Vang Stone animal design with the related animal from the Mammen axe-head, the latter lacks the axiality seen in the Vang Stone and its tendrils are far less disciplined: the Mammen scroll is wavy, while the Vang scroll appears taut and evenly curved, these features marking a key difference between Mammen and Ringerike ornament. The inter-relationship between the two styles is obvious, however, when comparing the Vang Stone animal with that found on the

Jelling Stone The Jelling stones ( da, Jellingstenene) are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The larger ...

With regard to metalwork, Ringerike Style is best seen in two copper-gilt

weather-vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

s, from Källunge, Gotland and from Söderala, Hälsingland (the

Söderala vane The Söderala vane ( sv, Söderalaflöjeln) is a weather vane dating from the Viking Age, richly ornamented and made of gilt bronze. It derives its name from in Söderala, Sweden, where it was used as a weather vane during the 18th century. It w ...

), both in Sweden. The former displays one face two axially-constructed loops in the form of snakes, which in turn sprout symmetrically-placed tendrils. The snake heads, as well as the animal and snake on the reverse, find more florid treatment than on the Vang Stone: all have lip lappets, the snakes bear pigtails, while all animals have a pear-shaped eye with the point directed towards the snout – a diagnostic feature of Ringerike Style. The Ringerike Style evolved out of the earlier

Mammen Style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

. It received its name from a group of

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones d ...

s with animal and plant motifs in the Ringerike district north of

. The most common motifs are lions, birds, band-shaped animals and spirals.Moss (2014), p. 44 Some elements appear for the first time in Scandinavian art, such as different types of crosses, palmettes and pretzel-shaped nooses that tie together two motifs. Most of the motifs have counterparts in Anglo-Saxon, Insular and

Ottonian art Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian Hubert Janitschek after the Ottonian dynasty which ruled Germany and nort ...

. File:Ringerike St Paul runetone.jpg, English Runic Inscription 2 Image:Heggen.gif, A weathervane Image:Ög 111.jpg, The runestone Ög 111 with a cross in Ringerike style Image:U 1016, Fjuckby.jpg, The runestone U 1016 at Fjuckby File:Sö280 Strängnäs.jpg, Runestone Sö 280 at

Strängnäs Cathedral Strängnäs Cathedral ( sv, Strängnäs domkyrka) is a Lutheran cathedral church in Strängnäs, Sweden, since the Protestant Reformation the seat of the Church of Sweden Diocese of Strängnäs. Architecture Construction of the cathedral bega ...

File:U 1146, Gillberga.JPG, Runestone U 1146 in Gillberga, Uppland

Urnes Style

The Urnes Style was the last phase of

n animal art during the second half of the 11th century and in the early 12th century.The article ''urnesstil'' in ''

'' (1996). The Urnes Style is named after the northern gate of the Urnes stave church in

, but most objects in the style are

s in

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

, Sweden, which is why some scholars prefer to call it the ''

Runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increa ...

''. The style is characterized by slim and stylised animals that are interwoven into tight patterns. The animals heads are seen in profile, they have slender almond-shaped eyes and there are upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks.

Early Urnes Style

The early style has received a dating which is mainly based on runestone U 343, runestone U 344 and a silver bowl from c. 1050, which was found at Lilla Valla. The early version of this style on runestones comprises England Runestones referring to the

Danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-century sources. It ...

and Canute the Great and works by

Åsmund Kåresson Åsmund Kåresson was a Viking Age runemaster who flourished during the first half of the 11th century in Uppland and Gästrikland, Sweden. The early Urnes style is represented in his art. pp. 197, 208–09. Work Most early medieval Scandinavian ...

.Fuglesang, S.H. ''Swedish runestones of the eleventh century: ornament and dating'', Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung (K.Düwel ed.). Göttingen 1998, pp. 197–218. p. 206

Mid-Urnes Style

The mid-Urnes Style has received a relatively firm dating based on its appearance on coins issued by Harald Hardrada (1047–1066) and by Olav Kyrre (1080–1090). Two wood carvings from

have been dated to c. 1050–1100 and the Hørning plank is dated by dendrochronology to c. 1060–1070. There is, however, evidence suggesting that the mid-Urnes style was developed before 1050 in the manner it is represented by the runemasters

Fot Fot (Old Norse: ''Fotr'') was a runemaster who flourished in mid-11th century Sweden. Career Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood.Vilka kunde ri ...

and Balli.

Late Urnes Style

The mid-Urnes Style would stay popular side by side with the late Urnes style of the runemaster

Öpir Öpir or ''Öper'' (Old Norse: ''Øpiʀ''/''Œpir'', meaning "shouter") was a runemaster who flourished during the late 11th century and early 12th century in Uppland, Sweden.The article ''Öpir'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1996). He was the ...

. He is famous for a style in which the animals are extremely thin and make circular patterns in open compositions. This style was not unique to Öpir and Sweden, but it also appears on a plank from Bølstad and on a chair from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. The

Jarlabanke Runestones The Jarlabanke Runestones ( sv, Jarlabankestenarna) is the name of about 20 runestones written in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark rune script in the 11th century, in Uppland, Sweden. They were ordered by what appears to have been a chieft ...

show traits both from this late style and from the mid-Urnes style of Fot and Balli, and it was the Fot-Balli type that would mix with the

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this later ...

in the 12th century.Fuglesang, S.H. ''Swedish runestones of the eleventh century: ornament and dating'', Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung (K.Düwel ed.). Göttingen 1998, pp. 197–218. p. 207

Urnes-Romanesque Style

The Urnes-Romanesque Style does not appear on runestones which suggests that the tradition of making runestones had died out when the mixed style made its appearance since it is well represented in Gotland and on the Swedish mainland. The Urnes-Romanesque Style can be dated independently of style thanks to representations from

in the period 1100–1175, dendrochronological dating of the Lisbjerg frontal in

to 1135, as well as Irish reliquaries that are dated to the second half of the 12th century.Fuglesang, S.H. ''Swedish runestones of the eleventh century: ornament and dating'', Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung (K.Düwel ed.). Göttingen 1998, pp. 197–218. p. 208

Notes

References

Background

* Brink, S. with Price, N. (eds) (2008). ''The Viking World'', outledge Worlds Routledge: London and New York, 2008. * Graham-Campbell, J. (2001), ''The Viking World'', London, 2001.

General Surveys

* Anker, P. (1970). ''The Art of Scandinavia'', Volume I, London and New York, 1970. * Fuglesang, S.H. (1996). "Viking Art", in Turner, J. (ed.), ''The Grove Dictionary of Art'', Volume 32, London and New York, 1996, pp. 514–27, 531–32. * Graham-Campbell, J. (1980). ''Viking Artefacts: A Select Catalogue'', British Museum Publications: London, 1980. * Graham-Campbell, James (2013). ''Viking Art'', Thames & Hudson, 2013. * Fred S. Kleiner, ''Gardner's Art Through The Ages: The Western Perspective'', Volume I. (Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009

* Roesdahl, E. and Wilson, D.M. (eds) (1992). ''From Viking to Crusader: Scandinavia and Europe 800–1200'', Copenhagen and New York, 1992. xhibition catalogue * Williams, G., Pentz, P. and Wemhoff, M. (eds), ''Vikings: Life and Legend'', British Museum Press: London, 2014. xhibition catalogue * Wilson, D.M. & Klindt-Jensen, O. (1980). ''Viking Art'', second edition, George Allen and Unwin, 1980.

Specialist Studies

* Arwidsson, G. (1942a). ''Valsgärdestudien I. Vendelstile: Email und Glas im 7.-8. Jahrhundert'', cta Musei antiquitatum septentrionalium Regiae Universitatis Upsaliensis 2 Uppsala: Almqvist, 1942. * Arwidsson, G. (1942b). ''Die Gräberfunde von Valsgärde I, Valsgärde 6'',

cta Musei antiquitatum septentrionalium Regiae Universitatis Upsaliensis 1 CTA may refer to: Legislation *Children's Television Act, American legislation passed in 1990 that enforces a certain degree of educational television *Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 *Criminal Tribes Act, British legislation in India passed in 1871 wh ...

Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1942. * Bailey, R.N. (1980). ''Viking Age Sculpture in Northern England'', Collins Archaeology: London, 1980. * Bonde, N. and Christensen, A.E. (1993). "Dendrochronological dating of the Viking Age ship burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, Norway", ''Antiquity'' 67 (1993), pp. 575–83. * Bruun, Per (1997)."The Viking Ship," ''Journal of Coastal Research'', 4 (1997): 1282–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4298737 * Capelle, T. (1968). ''Der Metallschmuck von Haithabu: Studien zur wikingischen Metallkunst'', ie Ausgrabungen in Haithabu 5 Neumunster: K. Wachholtz, 1968. * James Curle, "A Find of Viking Relics in the Hebrides," ''The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs'' 162 (1916): 241–43. https://www.jstor.org/stable/860122 * Fuglesang, S.H. (1980). ''Some Aspects of the Ringerike Style: A Phase of 11th Century Scandinavian Art'', ediaeval Scandinavia Supplements University Press of Southern Denmark: Odense, 1980. * Fuglesang, S.H. (1981). "Stylistic Groups in Late Viking and Early Romanesque Art", ''Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia'', eries altera in 8°I, 1981, pp. 79–125. * Fuglesang, S.H. (1982). "Early Viking Art", ''Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia'' eries altera in 8°II, 1982, pp. 125–73. * Fuglesang, S.H. (1991). "The Axe-Head from Mammen and the Mammen Style", in Iversen (1991), pp. 83–108. * Fuglesang, S.H. (1998). "Swedish Runestones of the Eleventh Century: Ornament and Dating", in Düwel, K. and Nowak, S. (eds), ''Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung: Abhandlungen des vierten internationalen Symposiums über Runen und Runeninschriften in Gottingen vom 4.-9. August 1995'', Göttingen: Walter de Gruyter, 1998, pp. 197–218. * Fuglesang, S.H. (2001). "Animal Ornament: the Late Viking Period", in Müller-Wille and Larsson (eds) (2001), pp. 157–94. * Fuglesang, S.H. (2013). "Copying and Creativity in Early Viking Ornament", in Reynolds and Webster (eds) (2013), pp. 825–41. * Hedeager, L. (2003). "Beyond Mortality: Scandinavian Animal Styles AD 400–1200", in Downes, J. and Ritchie, A. (eds), ''Sea Change: Orkney and Northern Europe in the Later Iron Age AD 300–800'', Balgavies, 2003, pp. 127–36. * Iversen, M. (ed.) (1991). ''Mammen: Grav, Kunst og Samfund i Vikingetid'', ysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter XXVIII Højbjerg, 1991. * Kershaw, J. (2008). "The Distribution of the 'Winchester' Style in Late Saxon England: Metalwork Finds from the Danelaw", ''Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 15 (2008), pp. 254–69
Academic.edu
* Krafft, S. (1956). ''Pictorial Weavings from the Viking Age'', Oslo: Dreyer, 1956. * Lang, J.T. (1984). "The hogback: a Viking colonial monument", ''Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History'' 3 (1984), pp. 85–176. * Lang, J.T. (1988). ''Viking Age Decorated Wood: A Study of its Ornament and Style'', Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1988. * Moss, Rachel. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600: Art and Architecture of Ireland''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014. * Müller-Wille, M. and Larsson, L.O. (eds) (2001). ''Tiere – Menschen – Götter: Wikingerzeitliche Kunststile und ihre Neuzeitliche Rezeption'', Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Gottingen, 2001. * Myhre, B. (1992). "The Royal Cemetery at Borre, Vestfold: A Norwegian Centre in a European Periphery", in Carter, M. (ed.), ''The Age of Sutton Hoo. The Seventh Century in North-West Europe'', Woodbridge: Boydell, 1992. * Owen, O. (2001). "The strange beast that is the English Urnes Style", in Graham-Campbell, J. ''et al.'' (eds), ''Vikings and the Danelaw – Selected Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress'', Oxford: Oxbow, 2001, pp. 203–22. * Paterson, C. (2002). "From Pendants to Brooches – The Exchange of Borre and Jelling Style Motifs across the North Sea", ''Hikuin'' 29 (2002), pp. 267–76. * Reynolds, A. and Webster, L. (eds) (2013), ''Early Medieval Art and Archaeology in the Northern World—Studies in Honour of James Graham-Campbell'', Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2013. * Richards, J.D. and Naylor, J. (2010). "The metal detector and the Viking Age in England", in Sheehan, J. and Corráin, D. Ó. (eds), ''The Viking Age. Ireland and the West. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress'', Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010, pp. 338–52. * Roesdahl, E. (1994). "Dendrochronology and Viking Studies in Denmark, with a Note on the Beginning of the Viking Age", in Abrosiani, B. and Clarke, H. (eds), ''Developments around the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age'', Stockholm: Birka Project for Riksantikvarieämbetet and Statens Historiska Museer, 1994, pp. 106–16. * Roesdahl, E. (2010a). "Viking Art in European Churches (Cammin – Bamberg – Prague – León)", in Sheehan and Ó Corráin (eds) (2010), pp. 149–64. * Roesdahl, E. (2010b). "From Scandinavia to Spain: a Viking Age Reliquary in León and its Significance", in Sheehan, J. and Corráin, D. Ó. (eds), ''The Viking Age. Ireland and the West. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress'', Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010, pp. 353–60. * Salin, Bernhard (1904). ''Die altgermanische Thieronamentik'', Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1904. * Sheehan, J. and Ó Corráin, D. (eds) (2010). ''The Viking Age: Ireland and the West. Proceedings of the XVth Viking Congress, Cork, 2005.'', Dublin and Portland: Four Courts Press, 2010. * Shetelig, H. (1920). ''Osebergfundet'', Volume III, Kristiania, 1920. * Wilson, D.M. (2001). "The Earliest Animal Styles of the Viking Age", in Müller-Wille and Larsson (eds) (2001), pp. 131–56. * Wilson, D.M. (2008a). "The Development of Viking Art", in Brink with Price (2008), pp. 323–38. * Wilson, D.M. (2008b). ''The Vikings in the Isle of Man'', Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2008.

External links

British Museum: Explore / World Cultures: Vikings
* Sorabella, Jean

in ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History'', New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. Updated October 2002. *
Age of spirituality : late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century
' from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Examples of the Broa and Oseberg Style

Borrehaugene
* Jane Kershaw
Viking-Age Scandinavian art styles and their appearance in the British Isles – Part 1: Early Viking-Age art styles
– The Finds Research Group AD 700–1700, Datasheet 42, 2010. (Academia.edu registration required). * Jane Kershaw
Viking-Age Scandinavian art styles and their appearance in the British Isles Part 2: Late Viking-Age art styles
– The Finds Research Group AD 700–1700, Datasheet 43, 2011. (Academia.edu registration required). {{DEFAULTSORT:Viking Age art