Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana. Supplementum - 01.08.1967, Page 144

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Icelandic features in the Bible edition to the initiative of the Bishop himself. However, there is little
stylistic correspondence between this ornamentation and that found on some carved wooden objects
which have been attributed to him (figs. 18 and 144).
The seventeenth century suddenly places us in a new situation. From now on woodwork is the most
richly represented among preserved objects of applied art, and many of the objects have dates on them.
The author bases her stylistic analysis on 76 objects which either are dated or canbe so with certainty. Of
these, 65 bear plant ornamentation. Apart from a pulpit dated 1617 none of them are earlier than from the
1630s. Discussion of the various groups of objects reveals a tendency to link certain types of decoration with
certain types of object. It was natural to decorate long and narrow sections (mainly on bed boards and
hand-mangles) with undulating vines, while shorter surfaces could be given a rosette, for instance, or a
symmetrical plant. We can also note that carved plant ornamentation in that century was forceful and
interesting and very varied, and that there was a strong preference for regularly undulating vines. It is
the vines that are first dealt with in the chronological discussion of the objects. The pulpit from 1617
(figs. 75-77) shows the leaf forms characteristic of the «Icelandic style», but there are none of the tightly
coiled spirals. The vines on the ornamental top piece of a cupboard marked 1638 (fig. 68), on the other
hand, have the spirals, while the leaves are fewer and larger than was usual in this variant of Románesque
plant ornamentation, of which we also see later reminders. It can be seen in a relatively pure form on a
hand-mangle from 1662 (fig. 71). In addition, the undulating vines occur in many forms and with very
varied foliage. The other plant motifs are to a large extent completely symmetrical ornaments, or occasion-
ally single plant forms taken from the vine.
Among the objects dating from the second half of the century there are some carved in auricular baroque
style. These are mainly the work of a carver called Guðmundur Guðmundsson who served his apprenticeship
in Copenhagen and was afterwards set to numerous tasks in his home country (figs. 107-113). In addi-
tion to muscle and lobe ornaments, which can partly be regarded as botanical, he carved very character-
istic vines (apparantly grapevines). Guðmundur Guðmundsson was the first modern artisan with
foreign training that we can trace in the history of Icelandic wood-carving. But there are other artefacts
in auricular style which do not seem to stem from him (e. g. figs. 91, 114, 119, 120). The other wood-
carvers to emerge more or less clearly in the light of their works largely stand for native traditions. We can
distinguish a «master of notched work» who was in the habit of carving the year on his works (e. g. figs.
124-127), a «school of Vestfirðir» whose ornamentation was closely related to the old «Icelandic style»
(figs. 99, 100, 105, 130), and various wood-carvers who appear to have made several cupboards each.
Five cupboard fronts, which probably originated in Eyjafjörður, seem particularly old-fashioned, remin-
iscent of the old stave church portals (figs. 131-135).
A number of undated artefacts (figs. 128, 129, 136-139, 142, 144-146) are attributed to the same century
because of their stylistic affinity with the dated ones. The author compares a cupboard (fig. 144) which
has been associated with Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson with a number of dated and undated cupboards,
arriving at the conclusion that it can hardly have originated as long ago as in the Bishop’s time.
While the seventeenth century material (primarily that which is dated) shows a Romanesque style of surpris-
ing vigour, it comprises hardly any traces of Gothic. The Renaissance, on the other hand, makes itself felt both
in the individual plant forms and in the increasing desire for symmetrical composition. The apparent
success of the auricular style is principally due to the preserved works by Guðmundur Guðmundsson,