The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 16, 2026

Jonah Cast Out by the Whale onto the Shore of Nineveh

1566

Maarten van Heemskerck

(Dutch, 1498–1574)
Netherlands
Pen and brown ink over indications in black chalk, within brown ink framing lines; indented for transfer
Sheet: 19.6 x 25 cm (7 11/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2024.28
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist’s rendering of a fish is neither a shark nor a whale, but rather a fictional combination of the two, a product of the artist’s knowledge of ornamental designs and his own imagination.

Description

In this dramatic composition, the Old Testament prophet Jonah floats midair after being vomited onto dry land by a giant fish. The artist Maarten van Heemskerck drew the composition as the second of four illustrations of episodes from the biblical book of Jonah, which describes how the prophet was swallowed by a fish and regurgitated after three days. Jonah’s trial was often interpreted as a metaphor for exile and redemption, or for Christ’s resurrection. Heemskerck was one of the most prolific designers of prints in the Netherlands in the mid-1500s. Working with the engraver Philips Galle in his native city of Haarlem, the drawing was indented with a dull knife for transfer onto a copperplate to be engraved. Heemskerck was an instrumental figure in bringing ideas about Italian art to northern Europe. Here, he incorporates architecture and figures reminiscent of types he saw and sketched on a trip to Italy in the 1530s.
  • Jacob Jansz Guldewaghen, Burgermeester of Haarlem
    by descent to his son, Jan Jacobsz Guldewaghen
    Pieter Saenredam, Haarlem [1597-1665]
    1669
    his sale, April 9-10, 1669, Haarlem (Het Prinsenhof).
    Adriaan Van der Willigen [Dutch, 1766-1841]
    by descent to his nephew, Adriaan Van der Willigen II [Dutch, 1810-1876]
    1874
    his sale, June 10–11, 1874, A.G. De Visser, The Hague, lot 111 (sold with full set of 4 drawings from the Jonah series); purchased by Dircksen
    1874–
    with Dirk Dircksen, The Hague
    ?–1947
    Sir R. Brinsley Ford [1908-1999], London, England
    1947
    Sold, February 26, 1947, Sotheby & Co., London, lot 30 “Four scenes from the Old Testament.” Purchased at the sale by Colnaghi, London (£50)
    1947
    Sir Robert Witt [1872-1952], London, England
    1949
    with Heinrich Eisenmann, London, England
    1950
    with Elkin Mathews, Ltd, London, ca. 1950 (cat. 129)
    before 1953–2024
    Dr. Einar Perman [1893-1976], Stockholm, by descent to the present owners
    by descent, Stockholm
    2024
    (Sotheby's, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 3, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 as described in 1874 Van Der Willigen catalogue
    2 as described in 1874 Van Der Willigen catalogue
    3 as described in 1874 Van Der Willigen catalogue
  • Nationalmuseum (Sweden). Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Nationalmuseum and Other Swedish Collections. Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1953. cat. 16
    Veldman, Ilja M., Ger Luijten, and F. W. H. Hollstein. The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. 1993. p. 154, under cat. 180
    Jonker, Menno, "Drawing Attention to Works on Paper in the Haarlem Newspaper, 1660-99," Master Drawings (Autumn 2019) Vol. 57, No. 3: pp. 325-348. p. 329, illus, p. 328, fig. 2
  • Oude tekeningen uit de Nederlanden. Verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, Singer Museum, Laren, The Netherlands (1962).
    Dutch and Flemish Drawings in the Nationalmuseum and other Swedish Collections, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden (1953).
  • {{cite web|title=Jonah Cast Out by the Whale onto the Shore of Nineveh|url=false|author=Maarten van Heemskerck|year=1566|access-date=16 March 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.28