The figure of the Good Thief in the latest work of Maciej Zychowicz and Adam Brincken

Abstract

“Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) – these words of Christ addressed to one of the thieves crucified with him became the subject of the latest project created by a Kraków-based team of artists led by the painter Adam Brincken and sculptor Maciej Zychowicz. In the autumn of 2017, they decorated the chancel of St. Casimir’s Church in Bilcza near Kielce, depicting a conversation between the Crucified and the Good Thief. The interior decoration consists of a monumental sculptural group depicting Golgotha, framed by a painted form resembling the shape of a single stele, as well as an abstract stained-glass window in a small window opening (made by Krystyna and Bogusław Szczekan, Pracownia Artystyczna Witraży). The article discusses an originally interpreted iconographic scheme: two motifs, integrally connected with the message of Christ – the forgiveness of sins and the promise of salvation. The fully rendered parts of the body of the Good Thief should be seen in the light emanating from the Saviour and in the context of the announcement of the resurrection of bodies. Contrary to the chronology of the evangelical narrative, the image of Christ must be read as the Crucified and at the same time Risen One, because his body does not bear traces of the shadow of death. The formal aspect of the painting and sculptural decoration was analyzed with regard to other such representations of the Passion and types of the Good Thief. The work by Brincken and Zychowicz has been presented in the context of earlier sacred works of this type. The Passover of Christ, defined as the unity of the events of his Passion, death and resurrection, closely related to the most important achievement of Vatican II – liturgical renewal – had been the leading theme in the works of the artists on several occasions. However, neither of them had engaged with the Saviour’s words addressed to the Good Thief. In Bilcza they became the leading theme, in a way responding to numerous contemporary reflections on the subject of Divine Mercy.