The Funeral of a Viking

label QS:Les,"El funeral de un vikingo"

label QS:Len,"The Funeral of a Viking"

Dark and dramatic depiction of the funeral of a Viking, his body being set to sea on a burning pyre. Standing on the shore, to the right of the composition, are a crowd of Viking men and soldiers with arms and weapons raised as the burning ship carrying the body is pushed out. Most prominent of these figures is that of an armoured man standing forward of the crowd, wearing a crested helmet and a breast-plate with raised ornamentation, with his right arm raised and holding a flaming torch in his left. The boat, with a stern carved into the form of the head of a mythical beast, is hauled into the rough sea by muscular male figures; the recumbent body of the dead Viking, fully armoured, is surrounded by flames. In the background are austere, rocky mountains seen under a dark and stormy sky. Most of the scene is illuminated by the glow of the burning pyre and the torch of the foreground figure, which is reflected in the water and the glistening shore. Frame: designed by the artist: gilt, carved wood; decorated with classical motifs but also with a running chain pattern which is one of the features of the Viking Borre style of ornament, which flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries.