A Visual Analysis Of “Jonah Cast Up”

3 Pages 712 Words

A collection of marble sculptures called the “Jonah Group” is now on display at the Cleveland Art Museum. “Jonah Swallowed, Jonah Cast Up, Jonah Praying, Jonah Under the Gourd Vine, and The Good Shepherd,” are the separate titles for each of the different statues depicting events in the Bible story. They are part of the John L. Severance Fund; numbered 1965.237, .238, .239, .240, .241 respectively. The “Jonah Group” was created in Asia minor, approximately 270 to 280 AD. These statues most likely decorated the water fountain in a wealthy private home. This visual Analysis focuses on “Jonah Cast Up.” “Jonah Cast Up,” this sculpture portrays the miraculous event of Jonah being spit out of the Whale. It consists of a strangely shaped whale lying on its stomach. The whale arches its back so that the curvy tail twists up over its head. Shooting out of the whale’s mouth is Jonah. He is halfway out head first with his arms outstretched straight above his head. The figures rest on a rectangle base that is roughly 3 inches tall and approximately a square foot in area. The whole sculpture is 15 inches tall, 16 inches long, and 81/2 inches wide. The Jonah figure is missing a left hand which has broken off over time. It is a statue showing action and movement by the way Jonah is being cast up and out of the whale’s mouth. The sculpture, as all of “The Jonah Group,” is constructed of white marble from Roman Imperial quarries in Ancient Phrygia. Having been unearthed from a large pithos in central turkey, nearly fifty percent of the sculpture’s surface remains covered with a thin layer of light brown dirt or dust. The surface is so smoothly shaped that the stone looks soft to the touch. Under an outdoor fountain, the wet statue would have a brilliant white shine. The figure of Jonah has a well proportioned, muscular, upper body sculpted resembling a Greek God. He has a full beard and wavy flowing hair. In this sculpture,...