"Battle of Svolder" by Leon Goodman (now sold 23/5/13)

£3,450.00

STUNNING HUGE NEW ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING ON CANVAS "Battle of Svolder" ............. This epic painting took over two and half months to paint!!!!

 

 

 

                 "Battle of Svolder" by Leon Goodman

 

This Absolute Masterpiece historic painting of the Battle of Svolder that took place 14 years after the Battle of Hjörungavágr in 1000 A.D. This epic Viking Naval battle fought in September 1000 in the western Baltic Sea between King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway and Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, Olof Skötkonung, King of Sweden, and the Norwegian Eirik Hakonarson, Jarl of Lade. Interestingly Eirik was the bastard eldest son of earl  Haakon Sigurdsson and brother of the legendary Aud Haakonsdottir of Lade. He participated  in the Battle of Hjörungavágr, the Battle of Svolder and the conquest of England!!!!

 

 

  

 

 

 The principal sources on Eric's youth are Fagrskinna and Heimskringla. They relate that Eric was the son of Hákon Sigurðarson and a woman of low birth whom Hákon bedded during a sojourn in Uppland. Olaf had only 11 warships in the battle against a fleet of at least 70 !!! King Olaf was sailing home after an expedition to Wendland (Pomerania), when he was ambushed!

 

 

 Olaf jeers the approaching Danes and Swedes with ethnic insults and bravado while admitting that Eirik Hákonarson and his men are dangerous because "they are Norwegians like us"

 

The sagas ascribe the causes of the battle to Olaf Tryggvason's ill-fated marriage proposal to Sigrid the Haughty and his problematic marriage to Thyri, sister of Svein Forkbeard.

 

As the battle starts Olaf is shown dismissing the Danish and Swedish fleets with ethnic insults and bravado while admitting that Eirik Hákonarson and his men are dangerous because "they are Norwegians like us"

In the 970s, Haakon Sigurdsson, Jarl of Lade, became the most powerful man in Norway!!!

Famous for his victory at the Battle of Hjörungavágr 986 A.D Haakon was first supported by Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and paying tribute to him—though the two later fell out over religious matters. Harald had converted to Christianity and was eager to Christianise Norway, while Haakon remained a staunch pagan. In 995 Haakon was deposed and the young Christian leader Olaf Tryggvason came to the throne. While rejecting Danish authority, Olaf made it his mission to convert Norway and the Norse colonies in the west as quickly and as completely as possible. Proceeding with threats, torture and executions, Olaf broke down pagan resistance and within a few years Norway was, at least nominally, a Christian country. But King Olaf had acquired several enemies during his meteoric rise to power. The most prominent were Eirik Jarl, son of Haakon Jarl, and Svein Forkbeard, King of Denmark, both of whom felt that Olaf had deprived them of their share of Norway. The same interests which clashed in the Battle of Svolder were to divide Norway for decades to come, leading to further major engagements, including the Battle of Nesjar and the Battle of Stiklestad. The resolution came in 1035 with the accession of the Norwegian Magnus the Good to the throne of an independent and Christian Norway!!!

 

 

 

 

The Battle took place in Oresund - Olaf had 11 ships the Crane was a large swift-sailing warship with thirty rowers' benches, high in stem and stern. It was commissioned by King Olaf and used as his flagship for some time.

Olaf confiscated the second of his great ships from a pagan he had tortured to death for refusing to convert to Christianity. King Olaf "steered it himself, because it was a much larger and finer ship than the Crane. Its stem had a dragon's head on it, and on its stern, a crook shaped like a tail; and both sides of the neck and all the stern were gilded. That ship the king called the Serpent, because when the sail was hoisted it was to look like the wing of a dragon. That was the finest ship in all Norway."

 

Olaf's third flagship, the Long Serpent (Ormen Lange) was a legendary vessel mentioned in the sagas.

 

It was constructed as a dragon ship, on the model of the Serpent which the king had taken along from Hálogaland; only it was much larger and more carefully wrought in all respects. He called it the Long Serpent and the other one, the Short Serpent. The Long Serpent had thirty-four compartments. The head and the tail were all gilt. And the gunwales were as high as those on a seagoing ship. This was the best ship ever built in Norway, and the most costly. This was the last of Olafs ships to be captured - Olaf then threw himself into the sea!!

 

 

 Black-Sailed Pagan Norwegian Vikings rush into battle led by Eirik Haakonson the son of the legendary Haakon both were at the Battle of Hjörungavágr 14 years earlier!!

 

 

After spotting the enemy, Olaf might have used sail and oar to outrun the ambush and escape, but he refuses to flee and turns to give battle with the eleven ships immediately about him. Seeing the Danish fleet arrayed against him, he comments: "The forest goats will not overcome us, for the Danes have the courage of goats. We will not fear that force because the Danes have never carried off the victory if they fought on ships.”Similarly, Olaf writes off the Swedes with a reference to their pagan customs:

 

The Swedes will have an easier and more pleasant time licking out their sacrificial bowls than boarding the Long Serpent in the face of our weapons and succeeding in clearing our ships. I expect that we will not need to fear the horse eaters.

 

It is only when Olaf Tryggvason sights Eirik Hákonarson's contingent that he realises he is in for a hard battle, because "they are Norwegians like us"

 

 

 

On the Red Viking Sail Odin sheds a tear for the slaughter of his Viking race!!!

 

 

Olaf lashed his ships side to side, with his own, the Long Serpent, in the middle of the line, where her bows projected beyond the others. The advantages of this arrangement were that it left all hands free to fight, that a barrier could be formed with the oars and yards, and that it limited the enemy's ability to make its superior numbers count. The Long Serpent was the longest ship and so also the tallest—another advantage to the defenders, who could rain down arrows, javelins and other missiles while the enemy would have to shoot upwards. Olaf, in effect, turned his eleven ships into a floating fort.

 

The sagas give all the credit to the Norwegians, praising Eirik Hákonarson for any intelligence and for most of the valour shown by Olaf Tryggvason's opponents. The Danes and Swedes rush at the front of Olaf's line and are repulsed, suffering heavy casualties and loss of ships. Jarl Eirik attacks the flank and forces his vessel, the Iron Ram, up against the last ship of Olaf's line, which he clears with a fierce attack and then proceeds onto the next ship. In this way, Olaf's ships were cleared one by one, till the Long Serpent alone was left

 

 

 Descriptions of the Long Serpent speak of silver men (see above) attached to the side of the ship. Two can be seen!!!

 

 

One of the best known episodes from the battle involves Einarr Pambarskelfir, an archer in King Olaf's fleet who later became a cunning politician. Heimskringla describes his attempt at killing Jarl Eirik and saving the day for Olaf:

 

 

Einarr Pambarskelfir, an archer in King Olaf's fleet, can be seen in the green!!

 

Einar shot an arrow at Earl Eirik, which hit the tiller end just above the earl's head so hard that it entered the wood up to the arrow-shaft. The earl looked that way, and asked if they knew who had shot; and at the same moment another arrow flew between his hand and his side, and into the stuffing of the chief's stool, so that the barb stood far out on the other side. Then said the earl to a man called Fin, ( a superior archer) -- "Shoot that tall man by the mast." Fin shot; and the arrow hit the middle of Einar's bow just at the moment that Einar was drawing it, and the bow was split in two parts.

 

"What is that", cried King Olaf, "that broke with such a noise?"

 

"Norway, king, from thy hands," cried Einar.

 

"No! not quite so much as that," says the king; "take my bow, and shoot," flinging the bow to him.

 

Einar took the bow, and drew it over the head of the arrow. "Too weak, too weak," said he, "for the bow of a mighty king!" and, throwing the bow aside, he took sword and shield, and fought valiantly

 

 

  For the first time in Leon's Viking series of paintings he has portrayed dying men on the main boat, the Long Serpent!!! Arrows are doing most of the damage, and King Olaf's longboat has few men still unharmed!

 

 

 

Olafs death – It was reported that Olaf jumped overboard to his death after his heroic stand against overwhelming odds!!!! The Norwegian and Icelandic accounts are more complex and more favourable to Olaf- Some say that Olaf escaped death at Svolder. The sagas offer a variety of possibilities.

 

"But of the fall of King Óláfr nothing was known. It was seen that as the fighting lessened he stood, still alive, on the high-deck astern on the Long Serpent, which had thirty-two rowing places. But when Eiríkr went to the stern of the ship in search of the king, a light flashed before him as though it were lightning, and when the light disappeared, the king himself was gone."

 

 

 King Olaf was famous for his Hvite Kristus - the White Christ- He was a Christian convert with a vengeance and terrorized Norway into Christendom through murder and torture!! Olaf would look to his White Christ and it was told blood would run from Christ's eyes!!

 

 

 

Other sagas suggest that one way or another Olaf made his way to the shore; perhaps by swimming, perhaps with the help of angels, most likely rescued by one of the Wendish ships present.After his escape, Olaf was spotted in Jerusalem as late as the 1040s

 

 

 

The battle has also inspired art outside of Scandinavia- The best known English-language work is probably Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s  cycle "The Saga of King Olaf” much of which is dedicated to the Battle of Svolder, and which includes the verse:

 

Louder the war-horns growl and snarl,

 

Sharper the dragons bite and sting!

 

Eric the son of Hakon Jarl

 

A death-drink salt as the sea

 

Pledges to thee,

 

Olaf the King!

 

 After the battle, Norway was ruled by the Jarls of Lade as a fief of Denmark and Sweden.

 

 

 The only weapons that could have been employed against another longboat would have to have been longbows or spears, or a ram with iron bars fixed on the prow. Longboat called "The Ram" can be seen ramming the last longboat before reaching King Olaf's boat. Men in the last are flung about with the force of the ramming blow!! Finally realising Olaf has lost the Battle of Svolder he will jump overboard!!! He is seen with a golden cloak still spurring on his men. Meanwhile, the White Christ sheds tears of blood, signifying his approval of King Olaf's actions!!!!

 

 

 

 Close up of the ship "The Ram" smashing through King Olaf's ships!!!!

 

 

 King Olaf's other ship the Short Serpent sinks above while the legendary Long Serpent glowers down at such a dreadful sight!!!

 

 The passage of paint at the top right hand corner showing two men grappling with the red and white sail (The word Sail incidentally in English comes from Viking) is considered by Leon to be one of his best passages of paint he has ever produced!!! The man on the left, leaning down to grip the sail has an uncanny appearance, and the ripple of the white sail in his hand is Neo-Classicist Ingres' famous decree that two colours almost the same placed side by side are the most beautiful optical effect to be seen in a painting!!! This Ingres maybe took from the early Renaissance Artist Martin Schongauer for example his painting from 1470 "The Holy Family"!!!!

  Having studied real photographs of World War I German and British soldiers fighting hand to hand in the trenches, Leon has tried to portray the terrible confusion that such hand to hand fighting creates!!! Bodies writhe this way and thatt, desperate to stay alive and kill the enemy!! The Viking sailor warriors exhibit a similar frenzy!! Each Viking refuses to run fighting like a Viking should some securing their place in Odin's hall- Valhalla or others their place in Heaven!!!

 

 

 

 Ref only;   asgard-arts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 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.

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