The Horned Helmet Was a Painter's Invention, and Collectors Should Know It

The Viking most people picture comes from the painters of the 1800s, not from the Norse raiders themselves. That image has horns on the helmet, a spear in hand, metal armor on the chest and fur across the shoulders. For a collector standing in front of a Norse scene from that century, the costume shows how artists of the period imagined the North. It is not a record of how its warriors actually dressed.

With reporting from The Collector.