Focus on Leiv Eirikson Discovering America and analyze the Analysis and reception.
The role Leiv Eirikson Discovering America played in American society has been associated with Scandinavian immigration, as the stories of pre-Columbian Nordic voyages to North America formed a part of Scandinavian American assimilation into American nationhood. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this narrative of identity caused some conflict with Italian Americans, as the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus had a similar role in their assimilation process. Leiv Eirikson Discovering America was featured at the Chicago World's Fair along with the ship Viking, a replica of the Viking Age Gokstad ship, which sailed from Norway to the United States and anchored at Chicago's Jackson Park in time for the event. Much literature associated with the world's fair, including official programs, incorrectly identified both Viking and the ship in Krohg's painting as exact replicas of the ship Leif Erikson had sailed across the Atlantic. The large painting became a popular attraction for those who had missed Viking's arrival or wanted to relive it.Analyzing the painting in 2019, historian Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough says Leif "radiates strength and leadership" and is depicted with a purposefulness which contrasts with the other men in the image. The historian Johnni Langer places Leiv Eirikson Discovering America in the same European tradition of depicting Viking voyages as Oscar Wergeland's The Norwegians Land in Iceland Year 872 (1877), and contrasts it with Arrival of the Viking in America (1845) by the German American Emanuel Leutze. This European tradition is distinguished from the American by avoiding humorous features.
replica of the Viking Age Italian Americans Viking Leif Erikson pre-Columbian Nordic voyages to North America Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough Scandinavian immigration Jackson Park discovery of America Oscar Wergeland Chicago World's Fair Christopher Columbus Gokstad ship Emanuel Leutze