Figure of Saint Nicholas
unknown folk sculptor
Basic information
- ID
- С-I-1560
- Author
- unknown folk sculptor
- Name
- Figure of Saint Nicholas
- Date of creation
- 19th c.
- Country
- Ukraine
- Technique
- carving polychrome
- Material
- wood
- Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm)
- 107 x 46 x 19
Additionally
- Type
- sculpture
- Genre
- religious
- Plot
- Saint Nicholas
- Provenance
- Lviv region
Information about author
Object description
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (or Saint Nicholas of Myra) is one of the most respected saints. He was a real person, famous for his love of children and helping those in need. He was respected for the sacrifice, protection, and patronage of ordinary people. The iconographic images of the saintly man turned into sculptural ones, where Saint Nicholas is shown as a kind, wise older man with a beard and in the bishop's clothes. This is precisely how an unknown folk master depicted the image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker for us. In a simple-minded primitive manner, using rounded shapes and smooth transitions, the saint's full-length, slightly squat figure was carved. His elongated face with clear arches of eyebrows smoothly turning into a straight nose and a small wedge-shaped beard create the image of a benevolent shepherd. Saint Nicholas is dressed in episcopal robes; he has a mitre on his head. The right hand is folded in a blessing gesture; the saint holds the closed Gospel with the left one. It is difficult to get an idea of the original image of the sculptural composition due to charring and significant losses at the bottom of the work.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
