Jonah (Lorenzetto)
| Jonah and the whale | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Artist | Lorenzetto |
| Year | 1520 |
| Type | Statue |
| Location | Chigi Chapel, Rome |
The statue of Jonah and the whale is a marble sculpture by Lorenzetto in the niche to the left of the altar in the Chigi Chapel, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. The sculptor followed the original designs of his mentor, Raphael, who was the architect of the chapel. This is the only sculpture that Raphael himself designed and was executed according to his intentions.
The statue of Prophet Jonah was part of the original decorative scheme of the chapel by Raphael. One of the main iconographic themes in the funerary chapel of Agostino Chigi was resurrection of the dead. In this context the adventure of Jonah, who was swallowed by a large fish and spewed out three days later by the command of God, was a symbol of overcoming death. Jesus himself said that this miraculous episode in the Old Testament prefigured his own resurrection:
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." — Gospel of Matthew 12:40
John Shearman assumed that the statue of Jonah was planned for the niche to the right of the altar because this place offered the best angle to view the composition. The statue was carved by Lorenzetto, Raphael's pupil, with assistance of the master, and he almost finished the work by 1520 when Agostino Chigi and Raphael died. Lorenzetto worked on this commission "with all the zeal, diligence, and labor in his power, in order to come out of it with credit and to give satisfaction to Raphael", as Vasari put it. Even so, the statue and its counterpart, the statue of Elijah remained in Lorenzetto's workshop. Vasari records in his Lives, speaking about the statues:
"... the heirs of Agostino, with scant respect, allowed these figures to remain in Lorenzetto's workshop where they stood for many years. [...] Lorenzo, robbed for those reasons of all hope, found for the present that he had thrown away his time and labor."
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