|
.
Viking art has a restless quality, characterised
by a seething mass of surface ornament ,which is largely of stylised animals
or more correctly zoomorphic designs. Contorted and distorted animals had
formed the basis of Scandinavian art from the fifth century, this continued
on, into and through the Viking age. However this does not mean it was
without style changes due to western European influences. Nor could it
be said that these western influences totally changed the Viking style.
The Viking style was a strong confident style and merely absorbed the new
western motifs, adapting them according to its own style conventions.
The dates below give only a general idea
of each styles duration, as according to most good text books, 'It is impossible
to give absolute dates to any the of the Viking styles.'
BROA / OSEBERG - 750 to 840
|
 |
The first style named after a grave find
in Broa on Gotland and the magnificent ship burial at Oseberg which contained
a fantastically carved longship, a wagon, sledges, bedsteads, tentframes
and a huge number of highly decorated everyday objects. (The Oseberg ship
find is in fact worthy of an article on its own.)
The style consists of sinuous beasts
with small heads, frond like feet and multiples of tendrils. The sinuous
beasts are so highly stylised as to make them zoologically unidentifiable.
It should be noted that the first 'gripping beasts' are in evidence, this
is the hallmark of the true Viking style of ornamentation |
BORRE - 835 to 970
|
 |
Named after a ship burial find of bronze
bridle mounts, at Borre in Vestfold, Norway. This style is a direct descendant
of the Broa style. It has two principle motifs, a gripping beast and a
ring-chain link style.
The gripping beast motif consists
of zoomorphic beasts with mask-like heads, with bulging eyes and Mickey
Mouse ears, that look out over their bodies. The bodies themselves have
a simple hatch infill. The ring-chain link motif has no identifiable animals
but is purely a running pattern of intertwining tendrils. It boasts the
first known Viking artist who wrote a runic inscription identifying his
work, a cross slab from Kirk Michael on the isle of Man. It reads 'Gaut
made this and all in Man.' |
JELLINGE - 880 to 1000
|
 |
The Jellinge style takes it's name from
the style found on wooden fragments in the Danish Royal Burial Mound at
Jelling.
The Jellinge style still has beasts,
however, they no longer grip themselves or the surrounding frames. The
ribbon shaped bodies are still seen in profile as per the Borre style,
but now the heads have pigtails, the bodies are larger, there is more hatch
infill and also small spiral hips. As you will no doubt have noticed the
Borre and Jellinge styles chronologically overlap. Thus it is not uncommon
to find pieces of work which are hybrids of both styles i.e. a ribbon bodied
gripping beast with pigtails. |
MAMMEN - 950 to 1060
|
 |
The Mammen style is named after the designs
on an axe found in the grave of a Danish Viking from Mammen in Jutland.
The Mammen style animal grew imperceptibly
out of that of the Jellinge style. The two can be difficult to tell apart
and indeed during the transitional period it would be a mistake to try
to separate them. The Mammen animals become larger, realistic and more
natural in proportion. Thus there was more infill and the spiral hips became
much larger.
The Mammen style was not in fashion for
very long, perhaps two generations, it could be said to be the transitional
stage between Jellinge and Ringerike. This would be true except that before
the Mammen style there was no interest in using plants, leaves or tendrils
to be ornamental motifs in the form of foliate patterns. These new motifs
are part of the western European influences mentioned at the introduction,
it should be noted that during the 9th and 10th centuries vinescrolls and
acanthus leaves were commonly used motifs in the rest of Europe. |
RINGERIKE - 980 to 1080
|
| The Ringerike style which grew out of
the Mammen style takes its name from a district in Norway to the North
of Oslo where it was used to a large degree on carved slabs of stone. The
Ringerike style differs from the Mammen style in two main ways. Firstly
the short tendrils now become a foliate pattern of regularly crossing tendrils
and secondly that large basal spirals are common. |
 |
URNES - 1035 to 1150
|
 |
The wooden stave church of Urnes in Western
Norway gives its name to the last phase of Viking art.
The powerful beasts of the Mammen
and Ringerike periods are no longer in evidence. Instead the magnificent
beasts now have elegant greyhound like bodies surrounded by thin ribbons.
The foliate patterns no longer truly exist,
they have now become thin curving ribbons with only the odd bud or animal
head to indicate their past style. |
|
