jonaslaumarkussen

[jonaslaumarkussen]

I have been a fan of Tumblr for a long time and always enjoyed following all the quirky and inspiring people and their content on here.

It always felt to me like this was the platform where everyone was welcome no matter how weird and outside of the norms you were. 

This was the place you could freely express yourself without being punished by the platform.

This is not the case anymore.

Due to the many recent changes to the platform (spammy recommended posts, discriminatory censorship and an unwillingness to deal with actual maleficent use of the platform, among others), I don’t feel at home here anymore.

Therefore I am leaving.

This will be the last post of mine here.

Thank you so much for following along as long as it lasted! I really appreciate you! And I hope to see you again somewhere else.

If you still want to get my weekly illustrations and connect with me, head over to my website at jonaslaumarkussen.com, where I’ll be posting the illustrations going forward.

You can even sign up for the newsletter to stay in touch and be sure not to miss a single post.

I’d love to have you!

Cheers,

Jonas Lau Markussen

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Reconstruction illustration of what the master of the Urnes style openwork brooches from Hedeby, Germany (silver gilt) and Klemensker, Denmark (silver) might have looked like.

  The design is similar to the Great Beast motif but without the serpent. The brooches display a single animal with extraordinary neck tendrils intertwining the body instead of a lesser serpent which is otherwise typical for this type of motif.

  The pretzel-knot interlace below the body of the beast is more typical for the Ringerike style than the Urnes style, which almost exclusively displays figure-of-eight loops as seen above the body of the beast.

  Their genesis seems at least originally to be of the same mould (as illustrated here). The overall design and layout of the ribbons are exactly the same, but the execution of the details differ.

  ———

Hedeby, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Landesmuseen Schleswig-Holstein (The State Museums of Schleswig-Holstein) (n/a)

  Klemensker, Bornholm, Denmark Bornholms Museum (The Museum of Bornholm) 1956X00041

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Reconstruction illustration of the bronze Urnes style openwork brooch from Porsgrunn, Norway.

  The brooch displays the Great Beast motif: a larger animal intertwined by a lesser serpent, which is an extremely common motif in the Urnes style.

  Similar brooches with the exact same composition have been found elsewhere.

  Though the overall design of the brooch is well preserved, details in this illustration have been reconstructed. The foot of the great beast is based on similar motifs decorating numerous Swedish runestones as well as other Urnes brooches of similar designs, and the head of the serpent is in large based on the brooch from Tröllaskógur, Iceland.

  ———

Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway Universitetets Oldsaksamling (The University’s Collection of National Antiquities) C28696

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Reconstruction illustration of the Urnes style openwork brooch from Sveine, Norway.

  The brooch displays the Great Beast motif: a larger animal intertwined by a lesser serpent, which is an extremely common motif in the Urnes style.

  Similar brooches with the exact same composition have been found elsewhere.

  Though the overall design of the brooches is well preserved, details in this illustration have been reconstructed. The foot of the great beast is based on similar motifs decorating numerous Swedish runestones as well as other Urnes brooches of similar designs, and the head of the serpent is in large based on the Hørning plank carving.

  ———

  Sveine, Oppland, Norway Universitetets Oldsaksamling (The University’s Collection of National Antiquities) C30111

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Reconstruction illustration of the bronze Urnes style openwork brooch from Bejsebakken, Denmark.

  The brooch displays the Great Beast motif: a larger animal intertwined by a lesser serpent, which is an extremely common motif in the Urnes style.

  Similar brooches with the exact same composition have been found at Borre, Norway and elsewhere.

  Though the overall design of the brooches is well preserved, details in this illustration have been reconstructed. The feet of the great beast are based on similar motifs decorating numerous Swedish runestones, and the head of the serpent is in large based on the Hørning plank carving.

  ———

  Bejsebakken, Jutland, Denmark Nationalmuseet (The National Museum of Denmark) C30567

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Illustration of the bronze cast Urnes style openwork brooches from Roskilde and Kiaby.

  The brooch displays a single animal with an extraordinary neck tendril intertwining the body.

  Their genesis is at least originally of the same mold (as illustrated here), but the bodies of the animals bear different decorations.

  The Kiaby brooch is transversely ribbed and longitudinally incised whereas the Roskilde brooch is decorated with debossed dots.

  ———

  Kiaby, Skåne, Sweden. The British Museum 1982,0602.1

  Roskilde, Sjælland, Denmark. Nationalmuseet (The National Museum of Denmark) D4698

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Illustration of the silver Urnes style openwork brooch from Lindholm Høje, Denmark.

The Lindholm Hills is a major Viking Age burial site and settlement situated to the north of the city of Aalborg.

The brooch displays ‘the Great Beast’ motif: a larger animal intertwined by a lesser serpent, which is an extremely common motif in the Urnes style.

———

Lindholm Høje, Jutland, Denmark Nationalmuseet (The National Museum of Denmark) ÅHM1937

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Illustration of the silver Urnes style openwork brooch from Tröllaskógur, Iceland.

The original has two rows of dots inlaid with niello running along the middle of the main limbs of the large beast (not shown here).

Brooches with the same exact layout and decorations have also been found around Oslo, Norway. Though these two specimens are not as well preserved as the one from Iceland.

———

Tröllaskógur, Suðurland, Iceland. Þjóðminjasafn Íslands (National Museum of Iceland) 6524

Jong Østre, Hestehagen, Bærum, Akershus, Norway. Universitetets Oldsaksamling (the University’s Collection of National Antiquities) C14077

Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Universitetets Oldsaksamling (the University’s Collection of National Antiquities) C37175

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Wheel motifs with three and four spokes shaped like animal heads were common throughout all the Germanic styles preceding the Viking Age.

  In the Germanic Style II B the animal decorations transcend the figurative depictive forms of the previous styles. From this style period going forward, the animal ornaments are developed into the more abstracted and enigmatic ribbon animal interlace pattern which eventually came to be the iconic trademark of the Viking Age.

  Check out the article on Style II B here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II B

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Several variations of this type of object decorated with protruding animal heads and filled with ribbon interlace have been found. Most notably is the gold belt-buckle found in the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial in England.

  Check out the article on Style II B here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II B

[jonaslaumarkussen]

A predatory bird, possibly a raven, with a hip in the shape of a bearded human mask probably depicting Oðin.

  Several examples of this type of motif have been found. Most notably as part of the decoration of the shield from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial in England.

  Check out the article on Style II B here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II B

[jonaslaumarkussen]

S-shaped animal ornament with hips in the shape of human masks probably depicting Oðin. A motif which was typical for style II B.

  This type of animal ornament is the first rendition of the actual ribbon animal as we know it and the ancestor of all the following versions of the ribbon animals in Germanic and Norse art up until the end of the Viking Age.

  Check out the article on Style II B here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II B

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Wheel motifs with three and four spokes shaped like animal heads were common throughout all the Germanic styles preceding the Viking Age.

  In style II C the mouths of the animals are always beak-like and extruded and often distinguished from the head itself by a curved outline. The mouths are typically either curving downward like a beak (as in this illustration) or extruded straightforward with the upper and lower lips or ends of the jaws pointing in opposite directions.

  This type of motif is found throughout Scandinavia but is especially prevalent in the eastern regions.

  Check out the article on Style II C here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II C

[jonaslaumarkussen]

Whole S-shaped animals biting their own neck and ‘gripping’ each other’s ribbon-bodies with their hind-legs.

  The mix of open leaf-like front-feet and frond-toed hind-legs is typical for the style and a continuation of features of the preceding style II B. It is often necessary to take a closer look to distinguish the hips from heads as they are executed in a very similar matter.

  This type of motif is found throughout Scandinavia but especially prevalent in the eastern regions.

  Check out the article on Style II C here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II C

[jonaslaumarkussen]

The head of a beast composed of several lesser animals and serpents in style II C on the verge of transitioning into style II D.

  Several examples of this type of motif have been found. Most notably in the Valsgärde grave six, Uppland, Sweeden containing a horse-harness decorated with several gilded bronze mounts from which this illustration has been inspired.

  This type of motif is found throughout Scandinavia but especially prevalent in the eastern regions.

  Check out the article on Style II C here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II C

[jonaslaumarkussen]

S-shaped ribbon ornament with two animal head terminals biting their own ribbon body. A motif which was typical for style II C.

  In style II C the mouths of the animals are always beak-like and extruded and often distinguished from the head itself by a curved outline. The mouths are typically either curving downward like a beak or extruded straightforward with the upper and lower lips or ends of the jaws pointing in opposite directions (as in this illustration).

  This type of motif is found throughout Scandinavia but especially prevalent in the eastern regions.

  Check out the article on Style II C here:

The Anatomy of Germanic Art: Style II C

[jonaslaumarkussen]

This illustration is one of the three case studies from the course Master the Urnes Style. The composition is a traditional take on the many Urnes style openwork brooches found throughout Scandinavia.

  Check out the time-lapse video below to see the process of creating the illustration from rough sketch to finished artwork.