Imagining national belief through art: Old Norse Religion and the Vikings in J. L. Lund´s painting

This article analyzes the painting Nordisk offerscene fra den Odinske periode (Nordic sacrificial scene from the period of Odin), created by the Danish painter Johan Ludvig Gebhard Lund (1777-1867) in 1831 and which presents a theme regarding Old Norse religion and the Vikings. We have made use of Ernest Gombrich's schemata theory and the studies of reception by Margaret Clunies Ross. Our main perspective is that Lund's work was related to both Danish nationalist romanticism and to a perspective of history and art in which the ancient religious forms and idealized representations of the Vikings played a major role in shaping social and cultural identities of his time. Keywords: J. L. Lund, Norse myths in art, Vikings in romantic art, History of art, Nineteenth Century Art.