Several remarks about the painting of Christ on the Cross in the church of Saint Matthew in Mielec

The painting Christ on the Cross in the main altar of the church of Saint Matthew in Mielec has not been the subject of broader art-historical reflection to date. There have been a few isolated mentions of the work, regarding its attribution and dating. The authorship of the work was attributed to Thomas Dolabella or one of his pupils, which was equated to dating it to the first half of the seventeenth century. The identification of the person of the founder, who was Konstanty Przedbor from Koniecpol, the establishment of the chronology of the benefactions received by him and the analysis of the formal features of the painting made it possible to exclude earlier attributions and to specify the time of the painting’s creation to the years around 1690–1695. The article also analyses the iconography of the painting and the way in which the original – a painting by Annibal Carracci from 1594, engraved by Cornelis Bloemaert before 1638 – had been processed.