Well, this is a cheery little number. This carving of Christ in distress was made in around 1410 and it doesn’t give the viewer much room to hide. Christ sits exposed on a rock in front of a throne-like backrest, wounded, crowned with thorns and covered with the marks of the scourging. It was located at the Holy Spirit Hospital in Lübeck and that’s an interesting building in itself as it is currently a retirement home, but it dates to 1286 and is one of the oldest social institutions in the world. As an aside, it wouldn’t have been an entirely grim place despite it catering for the poor, sick and impoverished, as it was rooted in charity.
The missing hand once probably held a scourge, the instrument of Christ’s torment, and he does look quite annoyed here. Lübeck has many beautiful things, including a craft beer bar, but this is not beautiful in a simple sense. It’s deliberately difficult and I’m not sure what the residents of the hospital would have thought about the arrangement in the Middle Ages. I’m not entirely sure that it would have cheered me up or made me feel better if I’m being honest.