The Good Shepherd (280–90 CE): Art, History and Details

The Good Shepherd (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:

Images of a youthful shepherd standing among his flock and carrying a sheep over his shoulders were popular with Romans of traditional faith as well as Christians living in the Late Roman Empire. Painted on the walls or the ceiling of a burial chamber or carved on a marble sarcophagus, this image might simply invoke the deceased’s hope for a peaceful afterlife spent in a pastoral setting. For Christians, this traditional Roman image took on a more specific meaning. It could be understood to refer to the passage in the Gospel according to John in which Christ said of himself: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11). Allegedly found together with the Jonah statuettes, it is indeed likely that this figure represents Christ as the Good Shepherd.

Object facts

• Title: The Good Shepherd
• Date: 280–90 CE
• Culture: Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 49.5 x 26 x 16.2 cm (19 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Early Christian
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1965.241

A detail from the museum

This youthful shepherd appears serene while bearing a large sheep on his broad shoulders. He looks untaxed by this effort and his calm presence seems to put the small sheep at ease, as they frolic at his feet. Since this sculpture was found together with the four Jonah statuettes, it is likely this figure depicts Christ as the Good Shepherd.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• “Early Christian Sculptures at Cleveland.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 3 (March 1967): 67–88.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

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.