Vignet til fortællingen "Kong Gorm og hans sønner" 1850 - 1874

Waldemar Bøhme made this vignette for the story "King Gorm and his Sons" using drawing. The print shows a king and an advisor or wizard walking in a forest, under the shade of a large letter 'H.' Bøhme was Danish, and his images often draw on the Nordic past, evoking a pre-Christian world of kings and sagas. We can see him reflecting on Denmark's more ancient history and myths in an age of nation-building. These kinds of black and white prints were widely used in books and magazines, helping to spread the artist's vision of the past to a broad public. The placement of the figures in an initial is characteristic of medieval illuminated manuscripts, which speaks to an institutional awareness of the history of illustration, even as it was being modernized for print. Delving into the history of Danish illustration, book publishing, and the history of Nordic mythology would help us understand the image and its place in the culture of its time. The meaning of art is always tied to its social and institutional context.