Description: This illustration is from a retelling of Old Norse mythology,
Asgard Stories: Tales from
Norse Mythology (1901), by Mary H.
Foster and Mabel H.
Cummings. The llustration
depicts the three norns, Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld sitting under Yggdrasill and weaving the fates of men. This
illustration is based on the painting "The Norns" by the German
painter Carl Ehrenberg. The illustration is signed with the
initials H.L.M., but these are not necessarily the initials of
the illustrator. See Research Notes below for information
concerning the original source and the original
illustrator.
Source: Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse
Mythology
Folio or Page: 5
Medium: not known
Date: 1901
Dimensions (mm): 90 x 140
Provenance:
This illustration is from Asgard Stories:
Tales from Norse Mythology from the collection of P. A.
Baer.
Rights:
This illustration from Asgard Stories: Tales
from Norse Mythology is in the public domain.
Research notes, early print reviews, etc.:
Sage Dunn Krahn notes in her MyNDIR-IDG research spreadsheet "Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology and Original
Illustrations" that the original illustrator was Carl Emil Doepler 'The Elder.'
See the original illustration in Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden (231).
Bibliography:
Editions
Foster,
Mary, and
Mabel
Cummings. Asgard
Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology. New
York: Silver, Burdett and Co,
1901.
Dunn-Krahn,
Sage (en.)
b. 13th July 1999
Occupation: Research Assistant
Anomalies
Skuld (en.)
The youngest norn, often associated with the future.
Urðr (non.)
Urd (en.)
A norn who is often associated with the past.
Verðandi (non.)
Verdandi (en.)
A norn who is often associated with the present.
Artist Not Known
Artist Not
Known
Artist not known for this illustration in Asgard
Stories
Plants
Yggdrasill (non.)
Yggdrasil (en.)
The ash tree at the centre of Norse cosmology that unites the nine
realms.
Nouns
Edwardian (en.)The
Edwardian era began with the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910
(January 22, 1901 - 28 July, 1914). However, the era's end date is
sometimes extended to the beginning of World War 1 (28 July
1914).
norn (non.)
A norn was a female spirit who was associated with destiny or
fate.
Source Materials:
Asgard Stories (en.)
Children's book by Mabel Cummings and Mary Foster published in
1901.
Source Persons
Cummings,
Mabel (en.)
Nationality: English
b. 28 Mar 1872
d. 24 August 1962
Occupation: Childrens book writer.
Nationality: American
Mabel Homer Cummings lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, as well as
Boston and Cambridge. She was born on the 28th of March, 1872 in
Cambridge, and died on the 24th of August, 1962 in Brookline. She lived
with her sister, the horticulturalist and ornithologist Emma G.
Cummings. She was a school teacher and the headmistress and co-founder
of the high school Brimmer and May, where Cummings Hall is named after
her. She graduated from Smith College in 1895. She was almost certainly
a founding member of the College Club of Boston, the first women’s
college club in the United States, and bought the building at 76
Marlborough in 1893.
Foster,
Mary (en.)
Nationality: American
Occupation: Childrens book writer and schoolteacher.
b. 19 Dec 1848
d. 27 Oct 1914
