VMs f75r - Nymph Holding Spurtle

[Koen G]

This would be the reason why we see one of them with a pilgrim's staff, to symbolize the beginning of a journey.

A pilgrim's staff surely doesn't just symbolize any journey, right? Nowadays, we can walk to Compostela for fun, but there was much more to the Pilgrim in the Middle Ages. They would trek to holy sites (Jerusalem, Rome...) as a devotional practice, usually with the idea of penance in mind. Suffer hardships to receive forgiveness for sins. In parts of Europe, imposed pilgrimage was even part of the judicial system (see: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ).

Just to say, to a medieval audience, a pilgrim had a completely different connotation than one who simply wanders. The itinerant aspect was certainly part of it, but not the main thought.

The Man of Sorrows was so popular in the Middle Ages because it shows how Jesus suffered on our part to atone for our sins. This was as much a fact in the Middle Ages as the sun rising in the morning, and a thought illuminating their whole existence like the sun's rays. What the pilgrim does, is very much the same thought, but on a small, individual level: suffering for God.