Pensive Christ

Images of the Sorrowful Christ held a privileged position in popular culture. The inspiration for these figures came from sculptures in churches. They were inspired by Gothic or Baroque works (see E/357/ML, E/358/ML), however they often depicted the Sorrowful Christ according to their own conception, completely departing from typical iconographic patterns. Such representations were found in the vicinity of Lubartów.

The sculpture from Górka Lubartowska is dated to 1864 and its author, according to the information preserved among the local population, was a participant in the January Uprising. It might have caused that the figure of Christ, despite the Gothic rendering, is dressed in unspecified male attire, presumably a soldier's uniform. On the face, with sharp features and a protruding beard, there is no visible suffering and pain. What is noticeable, however, is the disproportion of the figure's hands - the massive right one, supporting the head, is half as long as the rather frail left one, which hides a small skull, invisible from the front. The change of the characteristic hip-band (perizonium) into a "uniform" and placing the skull under the left palm prove that the mendicants sometimes did not stick to the rigid scheme and changed some elements according to their own ideas.