Kullervo Sets Off for War

{{Short description|Painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela}}

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file=Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Kullervo Sets Off for War (tempera).jpg

| image_size=300px

| caption=Gallen-Kallela's tempera version from 1901.

| title=Kullervo Sets Off for War

| other_language_1=Finnish

| other_title_1=Kullervon sotaanlähtö

| artist=Akseli Gallen-Kallela

| year=1901

| medium=Mural & Tempera

| dimensions=355 cm x 687 cm (mural)
89 cm x 128 cm (tempera)

| city=Helsinki

| museum=Mural: Old Student House
Tempera: Ateneum

}}

File:Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Kullervo Sets Off for War (mural).png]]

Kullervo Sets Off for War ({{langx|fi|Kullervon sotaanlähtö}}) is a painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela from the year 1901. He painted the subject in tempera painting (89 × 128 cm){{cite web |url=http://kokoelmat.fng.fi/app?si=A+III+2144&lang=en |title= Gallen-Kallela, Akseli Kullervon sotaanlähtö 1901 |work= Finnish National Gallery - Art Collections |publisher= Finnish National Gallery |access-date= 8 September 2016 |quote=}} and as a fresco (355 × 687 cm) which is located in the music hall of Old Student House of Helsinki University.{{cite web |url=http://www.vanhaylioppilastalo.fi/en/about/venues |title=Venues |publisher=Vanha Ylioppilastalo |access-date=8 September 2016 |quote= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916010446/http://www.vanhaylioppilastalo.fi/en/about/venues |archive-date=16 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}

Description

The fresco was donated to the Students' union by Otto Donner.{{cite web |url=https://museot.finna.fi/Record/musketti.M012%3AHK19491114%3A40 |title= Invitation to opening ceremony 22.3.1901 |website= Finna |publisher= |access-date= |language=fi}}

The theme for the painting is from the Kalevala, national epic of Finland. Kullervo sits on a white horse ready to ride to war, to take revenge on his uncle Untamo.Kalevala: Songs 31–36 - The Kullervo cycle. He is followed by a dog or a wolf.

Gallen-Kallela traveled to Siena, Italy, where he likely saw the frescoes by Simone Martini in the Palazzo Pubblico. Martini's Equestrian portrait probably gave Gallen-Kallela inspiration for the setting of Kullervo.{{cite web |last1=Sederholm |first1=Helena |title=Kuvat syntyvät kuvista |url=https://artenoux.net/2013/10/02/kuvat-syntyvat-kuvista/ |website=Artenoux |accessdate=12 May 2020 |date=2 October 2013}}

Gallery

{{Gallery

|height=140

|mode=packed

|File:Akseli Gallen-Kallela - Kullervo Rides to War, sketch.jpg|1897 sketch of the work by Gallen-Kallela

|File:Simone Martini 015.jpg|Simone Martini, Equestrian portrait of Guidoriccio da Fogliano, c. 1330

|Kullervon-sotaanlähtö-1935.jpg|1935 Finnish postage stamp featuring the painting

}}

References