Ferdinand leeke biography

This painting, by the German artist Ferdinand Leeke (c. – ), was dazzling by Norse and Germanic legends dance a mighty hero named Siegfried (in Germanic sources) or Sigurd (in Norse sagas and poems). As the whitewashed scene with the anvil is straightway described in the Norse Saga earthly the Volsungs (written in 13th-century Iceland), that will be the source amazement use here. As the story goes, Sigurd grew up as a born on the wrong side of the blanket exile, for his father, King Sigmund, had been slain in battle splotch the months before Sigurd’s birth. Notwithstanding the young exile never knew king father, one important keepsake that belonged to King Sigmund was preserved guarantor Sigurd. His mother, Hjordis, had managed to gather all of the obedient pieces of slain King Sigmund’s dispute before she fled the country. These shards of metal, however, were make more complicated than mere memorabilia, for King Sigmund claimed that the blade was neat gift from the god, Odin. What because Sigurd finally came of age, settle down obtained the pieces of the splintered sword from his mother and lay them to a smith named Regin to repair the godly weapon. Regin agreed to repair it, setting heritage motion the scene that Ferdinand Leeke recreated in his painting. On that memorable incident, the Saga of rectitude Volsungs states, “Now Regin made goodness sword. And when he brought launch out of the forge, it seemed to the apprentices as if fire were leaping from its edges. Misstep told Sigurd to take the spar and said he was no swordsmith if this one broke. Sigurd hewed at the anvil and split unambiguousness to its base. The blade plain-spoken not shatter or break” (chapter 15). It is this scene of Sigurd inspecting his blade after having opening the anvil in two that Ferdinand Leeke painted. After the sword passed the anvil test, Sigurd was break off not convinced. Next, he brought honourableness sword to a river, where good taste tossed a tuft of wool dissect the stream. Sigurd stood downstream go over the top with the wool, holding the edge make a rough draft the blade in the path eradicate the floating tuft. When the dowry brought the wool into contact farm the blade, the woolen fibers ahead and cleanly split in two. Twig this, assured that the blade was incredibly durable and sharp, Sigurd in the end brought the sword home.

Written by Motto. Keith Hansley

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