Viking Art Analysis

I really enjoyed watching the videos on the Viking Age. I think it was a great idea to give some background information about the Vikings along with their artwork, so that the Vikings artwork would be more tangible for everyone watching it.
From the videos we can see that not only the Vikings closeness to the nature have effected their worldview, but also it had inspired their artworks and that they had used their natural knowledge to make their art.
Moreover, as it was mentioned in the video it is fascinating to see that such hard people had such a great taste in art and crafting. Although the Vikings did not have many texts written down, but they have used paintings and carving technics to pass out their history to the next generations.
It was fascinating to see that not only a wooden object such as the
Oseberg ship has survived a long time in the ground, but also its detailed marginal carvings have survived and are still visible.
It was interesting to know even the Viking jewelries had beast heads and animals carved on them.
It was strange to know that after the Viking’s settled in England and adopted Christianity, their artworks where influenced by Anglo-Saxon’s art. The stone cross, which may have been ordered by a local king of Vikings who had converted to Christianity, was the most fascinating artwork to me. The way they used the carving art to compare and contrast the new beliefs and old by putting the world ending in Christian and the Viking custom appears to me to be a remarkable idea. This was a brilliant idea for a local king to order this piece of art for informing the next generations about their ancestors’ beliefs.
Hogback stones, is another example regarding to the changes the Vikings had made not only to their beliefs and burial customs but also to their artworks. The Vikings had integrated the England’s saints’ thumbs idea and created their own piece of art for the gravestones. The grave monuments looked like a Viking home as if they wanted the dead person to live in his home forever and they have ornamented it with carvings of old traditions and new beliefs on
it.
Another artwork was the Mammen style axe, which was made of Iron, silver and gold with amazing carving on it. The carvings also included the axe owner’s name in the form of parrot on it so that the enemy would know who the killer of that particular person was.
By looking at the Viking artist’s work we can see how sophisticating the runestone carvings are and how the Vikings did a meticulous job creating all runestones. Also, it was interesting to know the meaning of the dragon on the runestone as being the protector of it and the snake being the dragon’s leash for keeping the dragon on the runestone.
In the end, I think the videos were a great brief review of all the class material we have covered so far, and the producer had done a great job putting everything together.