Eronen, Matti :: Don Rosa / The Quest for Kalevala -story

The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 13A - alternative half page

Artists: Don Rosa (All) , Jussi Karjalainen (Letterer)

3 Comments - 2,287 Views - 3 Likes

The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 13A - alternative half page Comic Art

Click Image to View Full Size

Additional Images:

The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 13A and Finnish Aku Ankka 2001:27

The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 13A in English

Previous Item:
The Quest for Kalevala page 21 (the triptych is ready!)

Next Item:
The Quest for Kalevala page 20

Artwork Details

Title:	The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 13A - alternative half page
Artist:	Don Rosa (All)
Artist:	Jussi Karjalainen (Letterer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	2,287
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	9/17/2019
Comic Art Archive:

Description

When "The Quest for Kalevala" story was published in Europe as 3-part serialization in local Disney comics, this splash panel as the alternative page 13A replaced "normal" upper part of the 13th page (of the 33-pages long story). It is summarizing happenings in the previous 12 pages.

Needing to remember that name of this story "The Quest for Kalevala" in Finnish is not the same but "The Secret of Sampo" (Sammon salaisuus).
In this Don Rosa's superb story is many great single pages, offering many nice intertextual links, and it is great delight to have any of the artwork from this story.
But anyway here you have the half page wide splash panel about the main item itself: The Sampo. It is the reason for this whole story, what there would be without this Sampo?

And what is this Sampo? - Quickly a short explanation.
The Sampo is a pivotal element of the plot of the Finnish epic poem Kalevala, compiled in 1835 by Elias L�nnrot based on earlier Finnish oral tradition. In Finnish mythology, the Sampo was a magical artifact of indeterminate type constructed by Ilmarinen that brought riches and good fortune to its holder. When the Sampo was stolen, it is said that Ilmarinen's homeland fell upon hard times and he sent an expedition to retrieve it, but in the ensuing battle it was smashed and lost at sea.
The Sampo has been interpreted in many ways: a world pillar or world tree, a compass or astrolabe, a chest containing a treasure, a Byzantine coin die, a decorated Vendel period shield, a Christian relic, etc. In the Kalevala, compiler L�nnrot interpreted it to be a quern or mill of some sort that made flour, salt, and gold out of thin air. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo)

About framing the artwork. For this set (pages 12 & 13 and this alternative half page 13A) I wanted to use something which is linking directly into the Sampo itself. And once Sampo was golden, and producing gold (like also salt and flour), it mandated the color of the frames. The starting point was those "Shards of rusty metal" (in Finnish version "rusty pieces of metal junk") which Gyro used, the remainings of first original Sampo. So, if finding a frame where is this kind of pieces, having mix of rusty brown and gold color, I guess I can stop searching more ;-). I looked over 12 months suitable frames...
Used "floating" hanging to present the whole artwork, not hiding anything behind a passepartout, but showing how it left from Rosa's desk. There is still a small golden rim list, adding 5mm "safety margin", I mean air between the glass and the art, so the art will never touch the glass.

This artwork should have went into some museum, as the complete story, when originals came for sale in an auction 2015. But things happened so that this most important Rosa's story, at least for Finnish readers, "broke down" around the globe, just like the original Sampo in Kalevala. Maybe it is the best in this way, so the artwork will bring joy for many comic art collectors. However, in a museum it would have been delighted more folks. I am feeling very happy to "rescue" few originals from the story.
To give perspective, when Finnish National Gallery (Ateneum) organised a small "Duckburg" exhibition, it attracted 245.000+ visitors just in 5 months! In this exhibition was only 12 works, mostly computer colorised drawings. Yes, read that again: National gallery presenting computer colorised pictures! This is what I call pop art ;-) Then just think and place into context this Rosa's original artwork for the story "The Quest for Kalevala".

The story has been published already in Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Island, Indonesia, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and US; in some countries several times. You can check details from here: https://inducks.org/story.php?c=D+99078
In Finnish this story has been printed in several editions, as "Sammon salaisuus". First time in the book: "Sammon salaisuus ja muita Don Rosan parhaita" (https://inducks.org/issue.php?c=fi/DR+1999#p007).
This Finnish first edition was awesome sales hit, and so far 12 editions has been done and over 100.000++ copies made since 1999. Remembering to scale into population of 5.5M inhabitants.

#DonRosa; #TheQuestforKalevala; #SammonSalaisuus; #Sampo; #Kalevala

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	Matti Eronen
Joined:	March 2017
Last Login:	September 2025
Website:	http://Illusi0n.com
Country:	FINLAND
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

Contact the Owner

Use can use a contact form to send an email to this gallery owner,
but, you must be logged in to use this feature.

Comments on this Artwork

You must be logged in to make comments.

Monty B
Member Since 2006

Posted on 9/17/2019

Beautiful page and absolutely stunning framing!!! Congrats Matti...

Davide G.
Member Since 2009

Posted on 9/17/2019

Great Disney art and very interesting description!

Alex P. McDuck
Member Since 2015

Posted on 9/17/2019

I'm happy, that this wonderful artwork has found (the best possible) home, congrats Matti :-)

All
	Dennis Books 9/6/2025 3:10:00 AM
	Randy Allman 9/6/2025 2:54:00 AM
	Richard Donnelly 9/6/2025 2:53:00 AM
	Stefan H 9/6/2025 2:17:00 AM
	David F. 9/6/2025 1:44:00 AM
View All


	Gio Scarp 9/6/2025 1:38:00 AM
	--J S-- 9/6/2025 1:24:00 AM
	Sam Casciato 9/6/2025 12:38:00 AM
	Alan E 9/6/2025 12:05:00 AM
	Aidan (Re-Legion ) Lacy 9/5/2025 10:56:00 PM