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

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

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

1,086 Views - 2 Comments - 2 Likes

The Quest for Kalevala page 21 (the triptych is ready!) Comic Art

Additional Images:

The holy triptych of Don Rosa's Kalevala story

Page 21 with Fantagraphics' book

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The Quest for Kalevala splash panel page 23A - alternative half-page

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

Artwork Details

Title:	The Quest for Kalevala page 21 (the triptych is ready!)
Artist:	Don Rosa (All)
Artist:	Jussi Karjalainen (Letterer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	1,086
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	2
Added to Site:	2/21/2020
Comic Art Archive:

Description

This 21st page finalized my project to get this "holy" triptych into my collection ;-). Please check the additional picture.
I had bought pages 20 & 22 in 2017 from 2 different remarkable European comic art collections and now got the missing centerpiece of this triptych. Now I can start building an altar once the triptych is ready ;-)

The 20th page (with the Defense of the Sampo half page splash panel) is here:
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1494765
and the 22nd page is here:
https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?Piece=1494764

The rest story here below is commonly known from those 2 previous artworks, about its framing and placing into context the artwork, but if you haven't read it earlier, please check it ;-)

The frames I used are linked, as close as possible, with the framing which was used over 120 years ago in Akseli Gallen-Kallela's The Defense of the Sampo painting.
I Used "floating" hanging (by archival tape) 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 silver 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; #SammonPuolustus; #SammonSalaisuus; #TheQuestforKalevala

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	Matti Eronen
Joined:	March 2017
Last Login:	January 2026
Website:	http://Illusi0n.com
Country:	FINLAND
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Monty B
Member Since 2006

Posted on 2/21/2020

Wonderful page and beautiful framing!!! Congrats Matti...

Alex P. Goofmann
Member Since 2012

Posted on 2/22/2020

wonderful artwork which found his way back to a finnish loving home, congrats Matti :-)

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