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"Moroccan Viking Adventure" by Leon Goodman (now sold 5/12/10)
This is a stunning new Viking painting "Moroccan Viking Adventure"
This beautiful, unusual, painting capturing the terrifying moment a war party of Norwegian Vikings encounter Tourag tribemen. Unbelievably
Norwegian Vikings actually raided the North African coast including
Morocco and Algeria. It is hard to believe but these fierce warriors
actually fought in the searing heat in the Sahara desert. It is told in the fragmentary Irish Annals from the year 867 see below
The Year 867.
In the Year 867 two younger sons of Albdan the King of Norway,
drove out the eldest son, Ragnall, for fear that he
would seize the kingship of Norway. So Ragnall came
with his three sons to the Orkneys. Ragnall stayed there then, with his
youngest son. The older sons, however, filled with arrogance and
rashness, proceeded with a large army, having mustered that army from
all quarters, to march against the Franks and Saxons. They thought that
their father would return to Norway immediately after their departure.
Then Ragnall's older
sons with their arrogance and their youthfulness voyaged across the
Cantabrian Ocean (i.e. the sea that is between Ireland
and Spain) and they reached Spain, and they did many evil things in
Spain, both destroying and plundering. After that they proceeded across
the Gaditanean Straits (i.e. the place where the Irish Sea sic goes into the surrounding ocean), so that they reached Africa,
and they waged war against the Mauritanians, and made a great slaughter
of the Mauritanians. N.B When it says Mauritanians it means Moroccans
not modern day West African Mauritania. However, as they were going to
this battle, one of
the sons said to the other, ‘Brother,’ he said, ‘we are very foolish
and mad to be killing ourselves going from country to country throughout
the world, and not to be defending our own patrimony, and doing the
will of our father, for he is alone now, sad and discouraged in a land
not his own, since the other son whom we left along with him has been
slain, as has been revealed to me.’ It would seem that that was revealed
to him in a dream vision; and his Ragnall's other son was slain in battle; and moreover, the father himself barely escaped from that battle—which dream proved to be true.
While
he was saying that, they saw the Mauritanian forces coming towards
them, and when the son who spoke the above words saw that, he leaped
suddenly into the battle, and attacked the king of the Mauritanians, and
gave bim a blow with a great sword and cut off his hand. There was hard
fighting on both sides in this battle, and neither of them won the
victory from the other in that battle. But all returned to camp, after
many among them had been slain. However, they challenged each other to
come to battle the next day.
The king of the Mauritanians escaped
from the camp and fled in the night after his hand had been cut off.
When the morning came, the Norwegians
seized their weapons and readied themselves firmly and bravely for the
battle. The Mauritanians, however, when they noticed that their king had
departed, fled after they had been terribly slain. Thereupon the
Norwegians swept across the country, and they devastated and burned the
whole land. Then they brought a great host of them captive with them to
Ireland, i.e. those are the black men. For Mauri is the same as nigri;
'Mauritania' is the same as nigritudo. Hardly one in three of the
Norwegians escaped, between those who were slain, and those who drowned
in the Gaditanian Straits. Now those black men remained in Ireland for a
long time. Mauritania is located across from the Balearic Islands. So most probably modern Morocco.
.................BY THE SUPERB LEON GOODMAN WHO IS AN ACCOMPLISHED ARTIST HAVING BEEN A FINALIST AT THE GARRICK-MILNE PRIZE. HE HAS MANY OF HIS WORKS SOLD AT CHRISTIES. Measurements height 24 inches by 20 inches. Oil on Canvas .
Leon Goodman has been a professional artist for the majority of his working life. His work has been sold at The Omell Gallery, Ascot, as well as Christies, the fine art auction house in London. Many of his works have sold for thousands of pounds to the U.S.A. Since seeing his work, Risborough Art Gallery have made him a regularly featured artist. Leon’s philosophy is that it is not the delineation of the subject which is important, but its fragmentation. He believes a strictly photographic image does not allow the viewer to participate in the painting. If the image is fragmented, the viewer can imagine for himself the missing parts and involve himself in the creation of the whole image. The viewer has seen his own interpretation of the fragmented images; the next viewer may see something different.GUARANTEED TO BE 100% ORIGINAL AND GENUINE WITH C.O.A.