walpurgishall:Carl Larsson “Midvinterblot / Midwinter Sacrifice”, 1914-1915The scene shows a pagan s
walpurgishall:Carl Larsson “Midvinterblot / Midwinter Sacrifice”, 1914-1915The scene shows a pagan sacrifice outside a temple in Ancient Uppsala. The sacrificial victim is the mythical King Domalde. There is no basis in history for the incident, but in Snorri Sturluson’s mythology, the sacrifice was to appease the Gods and ask for their interception in a succession of crop failures.Midwinter Sacrifice shows very clear Art Nouveau influences. The form is strictly linear and the colour scale intensive, with large, gilded sections. The relief-like composition shows the square in front of a pagan temple, the instant before the sacrifice. The king to be slaughtered has been dragged, unclothed, to a gilded sled before the High Priest. The executioner conceals his blade behind his back. The king is escorted by heavily armed warriors; women perform an ecstatic dance to the left and men blow into serpentine bronze wind instruments.https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/midwinter-s-sacrifice/FgHwZjBuY9GDjA -- source link
#art#norse mythology