Religious Iconography in Folk Painting in the Region of Small Poland. Some Remarks on Its Popularity in the Light of Statistical Data

Abstract

In the 19th century in the region of Small Poland painting belonged to the most developed and popular kind of folk creativeness. The results of queries in museums made possible the first attempt at a statistical approach to the subject matters characteristic of this domain. Basing oneself on the archetype from oficial art, or drawing inspiration from the lives of saints and legends dealing with revelations, one’s own peculiar iconographic repertoir was developed. The juxtapositon shows variations of the religious subject matter in the group of painting on canvas and on glass. The differences are apparent in the repertoir selection and quantitative proportions. In the painting on canvas the passion scenes prevail in the collection of Christological subject matters with the dominating figure of Christ Crucified (similarly to the painting on glass). Among the Marian painting Madonna of Częstochowa is especially distinguished (on glass: Madonna with Child), and there are less variations of subject matters (by half). Finally, in the third group there is Madonna and Child with St Anne, though the differences between further motifs are not so great (St Barbara painted distinctly on glass).