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 illustration is
for the chapter "The Twilight of the Gods," a retelling of the
"Ragnarok"
myth, and depicts Þórr
fighting Miðgarðsormr with his hammer Mjollnir. See Research Notes below
for information concerning the original source and the original
illustrator.
Source: Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse
Mythology
Folio or Page: 105
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 his MyNDIR-IDG research spreadsheet "Asgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology and Original
Illustrations" that this illustration is a copy of "Thor battles the Midgard
Serpent" by Carl Emil Doepler 'The Elder' from the 1882 edition of Nordisch-germanische Götter und Helden (311). It's also similar to
"Thor and the Midgard Serpent" by Karl Ehrenberg from the republication of
Nordisch-Germanische Götter und Helden, published in 1887 as Unzre
Vorzeit.
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
Artifacts
Mjöllnir (non.)
Mjollnir (en.)
Þórr's hammer that returns to his hand after he throws it.
Artist Not Known
Artist Not
Known
Artist not known for this illustration in Asgard
Stories
Creatures: animals, birds, monsters etc.
Miðgarðsormr (non.)
Midgard
Serpent (en.)
A monstrous serpent who is the progeny of Loki and the giantess
Angrboða. This serpent is also known as Jörmungandr and in English as
the Midgard Serpent.
Gods and Goddesses
Þórr (non.)
Thor (en.)
In the Prose Edda, Þórr is the son of Óðinn
and the giantess Jörð. However, in Heimskringla, he is a mortal.
Mythological Events
Ragnarök (non.)
Ragnarok (en.)
The final great battle between the gods and the giants.
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).
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
