The Gundestrup Cauldron (c.400 CE)

Viking Art

Vikings were Scandinavian seafaring warriors - pagan Danish, Norwegian and Swedish - who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe during the period 790-1050 CE. Viking or Norse settlements were achieved in North America, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, England and Continental Europe. In the East, Vikings expanded into the heart of Russia where they left their name - 'Rus' meaning red, after the red-haired Norsemen. Unfortunately, their raids were responsible for the decline of monastic art in Ireland, especially illuminated manuscripts. (For more about arts and crafts in Ireland during this period, see the history of Irish art.)

Viking Bracteate (Medallion) (c.450 CE)

As might be expected among a race of aggressive outdoor warriors, Viking art is more functional and symbolic, rather than contemplative or even expressive. And since Vikings were often moving from place to place, most Norse art consists of portable artworks, such as decorated drinking horns, body armour, pagan icons, paddles, and a wide range of objects used in daily life. That said, their wood carving and sculpture displays great inventiveness and level of skill, and Viking artists have left a rich legacy of extravagant animal ornament. Their metalworking was also of a high quality and both influenced and was influenced by Celtic metalwork art.

Early Viking art focused on jewellery and weapons, while later craftsmen are known for their silver-work and runestones. Norse art also survives in the form of small-scale carvings in amber, jet, bone, walrus ivory and, occasionally, wood. Significant finds of Viking art have been made at: Oseberg, Borre, Jelling, Mammen (eg. the Mammen axe, currently displayed at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen) Ringerike and Urnes.

Viking Bow Brooch with Disc (c.500 CE)

Moving away from the visual arts, the Viking interest in riddles and rhyme led to a rich tradition of poetry and story-telling, as celebrated in Old Norse epic sagas. But perhaps the greatest Viking achievement is the longship, whose ingenuity and effectiveness have raised it almost to an art form. Fast, light, maneuverable, and flexible, the longship could be quickly beached or launched, rowed by oarsmen or sailed in any wind. Not exactly fine art, perhaps, but fine craftsmanship.

In summary, the imaginativeness and intricacy of Viking art contrasts strongly with the other image of the pillaging barbarian. Norse craftsmen excelled in woodwork and metalwork, engraving and adorning brooches, weapons, implements, and ship timbers with a huge variety of animal forms and intricate patterns. There was hardly a material to hand which Viking art had not stopped to beautify or enhance. Examples of Norse art can be seen in museums in Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.

• For other pre-historic civilizations, see: Ancient Art.
• For the main index, see: Irish Art: Guide to Visual Arts in Ireland

• How to Update This Mini Review of Viking Art