Viking Art

Viking Art refers to the visual art produced by those of Scandinavian origin or descent, both at home and abroad, during the Viking Age (c. 800–1100). The term refers not to art in the sense of fine art or painting but to decoration, for almost all the artifacts decorated with Viking art styles also have a practical function—ornamental metalwork such as jewelry being the most common because it was frequently deposited in graves to accompany the dead. We also see Viking art on stone monuments such as memorials and, much more rarely because of poorer rates of survival, on wooden furniture and ships. Almost all of these objects have been recovered through archaeology, and thus the study of Viking art and archaeology are closely interrelated. The study of Viking art is chiefly concerned with style. In their 1966 survey, David Wilson and Ole Klindt-Jensen carried out the first systematic characterization of the subject in English, identifying a series of successive art styles by way of their diagnostic motifs, regional expressions, and date range and positioning Viking art within a continuum of Germanic animal art stretching back to the Scandinavian Migration Period of the 5th century (Viking Art, cited under General Overviews). This approach is still favored by most (see especially works by David Wilson, Signe Horn Fuglesang, and James Graham-Campbell). One notable advance is that the chronology of Viking art has been refined by recent dendrochronological (tree-ring) dating (see Dendrochronological Dating of the Viking-Age Ship Burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, Norway; Tiere—Menschen—Götter: Wikingerzeitliche Kunststile und ihre neuzeitliche Rezeption; Developments around the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age, all cited under Dating). Significantly, scholars have also begun to interpret “meaning” in Viking art’s motifs, figures, and narratives (see Viking Art, cited under General Overviews, and entries under Symbolism) although overall this topic attracts surprisingly little attention. Both approaches are, however, reflected in this article, which aims to balance a subject bibliography for each major stylistic phase (Oseberg, Borre, Jellinge, Mammen, Ringerike, and Urnes) with an emphasis on message, media, and craftsmanship.