Oseberg Style in Viking art

The Oseberg Style characterises the initial phase in what has been considered Viking art. The Oseberg style is a Norse art and crafts style characterized by animal ornamentation that flourished from the latter half of the 8th century to the first half of the 9th century. 

The style is based on older Nordic art traditions from the Iron Age animal style or animal ornamentation, and, like both the preceding and succeeding styles, is characterized by stylized animal figures, either designed as twisted bands or with more rounded shapes. There is a great variation in style and expression, but animals are usually depicted in a partly naturalistic manner. In addition to the traditional features, the style also has international inspiration. Motifs with birds testify to Western European contact and inspiration, while felines may be an inspiration that goes further east, perhaps an oriental feature. 

A characteristic motif is gripping mythical animals, grotesque beasts or beasts, and is therefore also described as the gripper style. This motif clearly distinguishes the Oseberg style and early Norse art from subsequent styles. The main features of the mythical animals are that they grip and bite the edges and framework around themselves, in other nearby animals or in parts of their own body. 

The Oseberg Style takes its name from the Oseberg Ship grave, a well-preserved and highly decorated longship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold, Norway, which also contained a number of other richly decorated wooden objects.

Currently located at the Viking Ship Museum, Bygdøy, and over 70 feet long, the Oseberg Ship held the remains of two women and many precious objects that were probably removed by robbers early before it was found. The Oseberg ship itself is decorated with a more traditional style of animal interlace that does not feature the gripping beast motif. However, five carved wooden animal-head posts were found in the ship, and the one known as the Carolingian animal-head post is decorated with gripping beasts, as are other grave goods from the ship. The Carolingian head represents a snarling beast, possibly a wolf, with surface ornamentation in the form of interwoven animals that twist and turn as they are gripping and snapping.

Origin

In the second half of the 5th century, the Germanic Animal Style emerged in western Scandinavia from influences of late antique Roman art, Celtic motifs, and motifs from the Asian steppe peoples (Scythians, Sarmatians). It is characterized by stylized animal figures whose proportions and anatomy are gradually subordinated to ornamentation. Towards the end of the 7th century, the final stage of these animal styles developed, known as Animal Style III or Vendel E (after a large boat burial ground in Uppland, Sweden). In Animal Style III, the original animal forms are enriched with tendrils from Irish and Anglo-Saxon influences and resolved into curvaceous, intertwined patterns. This style represents the end product of motifs that have been used for centuries.

The decisive impetus for the development of the Oseberg style was the introduction of the so-called griffin, an undefined animal-like creature whose form was fluidly adapted to the respective requirements. The origin of the griffin may be found in lion depictions in Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon art, knowledge of which spread from the Frankish Empire to Northern Europe. Other authors suggest squirrel-like animals, such as those found in English book illuminations, as the model. 

Characterization

The art styles of the Viking Age are ornamental styles that consist of three motif areas:

Figures, i.e. human and animal representations (including the predator)

Plant representations (tendrils, leaves)

geometric figures (circles, triangles, spirals)

The Oseberg style consists primarily of more or less stylized animal depictions, similar to those found in the preceding Animal Style III, but complemented by the griffin. In some cases, the animal figures are extended into long, ribbon-like, intertwined figures. With the griffin, which first appeared in the Oseberg style, the Viking artisans created a figure whose body parts could be arranged to harmoniously fill any conceivable shape.

The use of the griffin increased over the course of development and partly displaced other motifs. The name griffin derives from the typical depiction, in which the paws of the usually compactly depicted griffin either grip into surrounding elements of the decoration or claw onto them. The griffin motif appears on bronze-gilt fittings from a bridle found in a man's grave in Broa on Gotland. The griffin can also be found on parts of the finds from the Oseberg ship. Here, in contrast to the find from Broa, where it was used sparingly alongside the older forms of the animal style, it was sometimes used as the predominant motif. The griffin was used frequently, particularly on some of the five posts belonging to the Oseberg find, each terminating in a carved animal head. These posts, whose original purpose is unknown today, are the work of three woodcarvers. The oldest of them, around 800, is still firmly rooted in the old Animal Style III. Because of his near-perfect mastery of the animal style, he is called "The Academician". The middle artist ("The Carolingian") already uses the griffin motif. The carvings of the youngest, called "The Baroque Master" because of his exuberant forms, consist almost exclusively of artfully interlocking motifs of the new style. He was active around 850 and mastered it perfectly.

The Oseberg style is characterized by the combined use of previous forms of the animal style with the new, characteristic griffin motif. Three motif groups can be found on the finds from the Broa workshop. Animal style roots can be found in the highly stylized, ribbon-shaped animal motifs with their tendril-like outgrowths. The second element is semi-naturalistic birds and animals, as they are also known from Frankish manuscripts and fittings. The griffin, which appears here as the third main component, remained one of the most distinctive elements in later styles of Viking Age art. The first two of the motif groups mentioned are always depicted in profile. Griffins, on the other hand, are depicted en face.  On the finds from Broa, the three motif groups were used side by side on an equal footing. The works of the Baroque master of Oseberg, on the other hand, are almost exclusively limited to the use of the griffin. In the Oseberg style, the griffin is still compact with a short body and stocky limbs. Large paws, often intertwined in knots, grasp the adjacent elements of the pattern, the nearest predator, or the carving's own body. These can appear in full-surface patterns, as in the posts of the Baroque Master of Oseberg. The relief is highly three-dimensional and has multiple levels. This allows for entirely new light and shadow effects, unlike carvings in the traditional animal style. Typical of the predators in the Oseberg style—as in all early Viking styles—are their small heads and paws, in contrast to the rest of the body.

Berdal style

Some literature distinguishes the actual Oseberg style from the Berdal style, named after a site in Norway. The Berdal style is "characterized by almost caricature-like depictions of animals with disproportionate heads and segmented bodies." The head, in particular, is greatly enlarged. The predator is usually depicted semi-sculpturally and from the front. The Berdal style dates from approximately 800 to 850. 

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