Jonah Swallowed (280–90 CE): Art, History and Details

Jonah Swallowed (280–90 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Jonah Swallowed
• Date: 280–90 CE
• Culture: Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 50.4 x 15.5 x 26.9 cm (19 13/16 x 6 1/8 x 10 9/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Early Christian
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1965.237

A detail from the museum

Although usually thought of as a whale, here the artist has depicted Jonah swallowed by a cetus, a large, monstrous sea creature.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Art-The Cleveland Museum of Art's Golden Show" Newsweek (September 12, 1966).
• "Sculpture-Jonah and the Shepherd" Time (September 21, 1966).
• "La Chronique Des Arts" Supplement a la Gazette des Beaux-Arts (October 1966).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.