Sorrowful Christ
unknown folk sculptor
Basic information
- ID
- С-I-1736
- Author
- unknown folk sculptor
- Name
- Sorrowful Christ
- Date of creation
- 19th c.
- Country
- Ukraine
- Technique
- carving polychrome
- Material
- wood
- Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm)
- 50 x 20.3 x 16.5
Additionally
- Type
- sculpture 3D
- Genre
- religious
- Plot
- Jesus Christ
- Provenance
- Ozerne village (now – Luka village), Sambir district, Lviv region
Information about author
Object description
Among the variety of Western Ukrainian iconographic types of the Sorrowful Christ, the image of the "Thinker" became the most widespread. The three-dimensional sculpture of Jesus the Saviour, sitting on a stone with his right foot on the skull, was created in compliance with this iconographic image. The skull at Jesus' feet is associated with the Christian legend about the tomb of Adam, which was located on Golgotha. While digging a hole for the base of the cross, soldiers found human remains and threw them at the feet of Jesus sitting on a rock. This was the impetus for the sculptors; they put a skull under the foot of the grieving Christ, symbolising the sin of Adam and the hope that human sins would be atoned. Jesus' exhausted, tortured body is covered only with a loincloth that wraps around his thighs. Protruding ribs emphasise the weakened image of Christ. The figure of the Saviour has the correct anatomical proportions but is marked by excessive thinness. It is covered with yellowish-white paint with a pink hue; abundant red drops, imitating blood, are applied on top. On the head, there is a crown of thorns. The restrained posture and noble expression of Christ's face convey the superiority of spiritual suffering over physical torments.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
