The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 15, 2019

Jonah Swallowed

AD 280–90

late Roman, Asia Minor, early Christian, 3rd century

Marble

Overall: 50.4 x 15.5 x 26.9 cm (19 13/16 x 6 1/8 x 10 9/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1965.237

Location

104 Late Antiquity

Description

After disobeying the Lord’s command to proclaim judgment on the city of Nineveh, the Old Testament prophet Jonah was cast into the sea and swallowed by a sea monster. Here, the beast swallows Jonah headfirst.

Provenance
according to William Wixom, an unconfirmed report tells us that the entire group (1965.237-1965.247) was found in a single, huge pithos or jar. (J. J. Klejman, New York).
Citations
McColl, Donald Alexander. Early Christian Sculptures at Cleveland in Their Eastern Mediterranean Context. 1991.
Kitzinger, Ernst. 1978. "The Cleveland Marbles". I Monumenti Cristiani Preconstantiniani. 653-675.
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Margaret English Frazer, and Kurt Weitzmann. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Museum, 1977. 407-411
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 14 archive.org
Lehman, Karen M. " Sacred and Profane Hellenizing Marbles of the Late Third Century Roman Empire: Secular Portraits and Religious Narrative Sculptures in the Cleveland Museum of Art Reviewed in the Cultural Context." M.A. thesis, Kent State University, 2004. Mnetined: p. v; Reproduced: p.106, fig. 23
Meyer, Mati. Omanut yeme ha-benayim be-Eropah uba-biznaṭyon. Raʻananah: ha-Universiṭah ha-petuḥah, 2017. Reproduced: p. 69, #26
Hornik, Heidi J. "Freestanding Sculpture." In The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art.Jensen, Robin Margaret Jensen and Mark D. Ellison, editors. Abingdon Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. Reproduced: p. 74, fig. 5.1
Rumscheid, Frank, Sabine Schrenk and Kornelia Kressirer. Göttliche Ungerechtigkeit?: Strafen und Glaubensprüfungen als Themen antiker und frühchristlicher Kunst. Petersberg: Dr. M. Imhof, 2018. Reproduced: p. 300; IV.2.3 Abb. 4 -6;Kat. 3
Exhibition history

Bavarian Nationalmuseum, Munich (5/10/2007 - 9/16/2007), the J. Paul Getty Musuem, Los Angeles (10/30/2007 - 1/20/2008) and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art"

Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).

Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Center for the Visual Arts (February 13-June 7, 2009).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1965.237