God the Father

Jan Obrocki

Basic information

ID: С-I-1951
Author: Jan Obrocki
Name: God the Father
Date of creation: c.1779
Technique: carving
Material: wood polychrome
Dimensions (height x width x depth, cm): 199 x 135 x 67

Additionally

Type: sculpture
Genre: religious

Information about author

Author: Jan Obrocki
Artist's lifetime: c. 1730 – c. 1800
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, now Ukraine
Biography: Jan Obrocki (c. 1730 – c. 1800) was a Lviv sculptor of the second half of the 18th century. He executed his works in wood and stone, and worked in the technique of stucco. The works of the master are characterized by the style of Rococo and early Classicism. Between 1756 and 1757, he was first mentioned in a document about craftsmen who did not belong to the city guilds. In 1764, like some Lviv sculptors, Jan Obrocki was granted the right to wear a sword. It symbolically gave him the same status as the gentry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and exempted him from the jurisdiction of city guilds. Jan Obrocki decorated three fireplaces with stucco in the palace of Lubomirski princes in Lviv, and made a volumetric sculpture for Castrum doloris for the funeral of Anna Sanguszko Jablonska, which was displayed in the Bernardine monastery in Zaslav. Between 1769 and 1780, the sculptor worked on the interior design of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Lviv, making sculptures for the altar of St. Trinity and the Transfiguration of the Lord. He carved wooden figures of saints for the church in Busk.

Object description

About 1779, Jan Obrocki together with Ignat Buraczynski created a volumetric sculpture for the main altar and pulpit in the Church of St. Stanislaus in Busk. The elongated and dynamic figure of God the Father is depicted on the cloud in a dynamic pose and theatrical perspective typical of Baroque style. The artist carefully depicted his features, namely a high wrinkled forehead, visible cheekbones, a straight and pointed nose, and closed lips. Dynamic lines of clothes’ folds wrap up the body of God the Father. The saint’s pose with a bowed head is characterized by high emotionality and realism of the depicted image.

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

God the Father

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