{"data": {"id": 141651, "accession_number": "1965.241", "share_license_status": "CC0", "tombstone": "The Good Shepherd, 280\u201390 CE. Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian. Marble; overall: 49.5 x 26 x 16.2 cm (19 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1965.241", "current_location": "104 Late Antiquity", "title": "The Good Shepherd", "creation_date": "280\u201390 CE", "creation_date_earliest": 280, "creation_date_latest": 290, "artists_tags": [], "culture": ["Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian"], "technique": "marble", "support_materials": [], "department": "Medieval Art", "collection": "MED - Early Christian", "type": "Sculpture", "measurements": "Overall: 49.5 x 26 x 16.2 cm (19 1/2 x 10 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.)", "dimensions": {"overall": {"height": 0.495, "height_inch": 19, "height_inch_fraction": 0.5, "width": 0.26, "width_inch": 10, "width_inch_fraction": 0.25, "depth": 0.162, "depth_inch": 6, "depth_inch_fraction": 0.375}}, "state_of_the_work": null, "edition_of_the_work": null, "copyright": null, "inscriptions": [], "exhibitions": {"current": [{"id": 300917, "title": "Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions", "description": "<i>Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).", "opening_date": "1966-09-10T04:00:00"}, {"id": 180667, "title": "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art", "description": "<i>Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art</i>. Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).", "opening_date": "2007-05-10T00:00:00"}, {"id": 213591, "title": "Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art", "description": "<i>Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art</i>. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (November 18, 2007-March 30, 2008).", "opening_date": "2007-11-18T00:00:00"}], "legacy": [{"description": "Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (11/18/2007 - 3/30/2008): \"Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art\", ex. cat. no. 21, p. 190-191.", "opening_date": "2007-11-18T00:00:00"}, {"description": "Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): \"Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art\"", "opening_date": "2009-02-13T00:00:00"}]}, "provenance": [{"description": "According to William Wixom, an unconfirmed report tells us that the entire group (1965.237-1965.247) was found in a single, huge pithos or jar.", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": null, "sortorder": 1}, {"description": "(J. J. Klejman, New York)", "citations": [], "footnotes": [], "date": "-1965", "sortorder": 2}, {"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1965-", "sortorder": 3}], "find_spot": null, "related_works": [{"id": 141650, "description": "Jonah Praying, 280\u201390 CE. Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian. Marble; overall: 47.5 x 14.8 x 20.3 cm (18 11/16 x 5 13/16 x 8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1965.240", "relationship": null}, {"id": 141645, "description": "Jonah Under the Gourd Vine, 280\u201390 CE. Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian. Marble; overall: 32.3 x 46.3 x 18 cm (12 11/16 x 18 1/4 x 7 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1965.239", "relationship": null}, {"id": 141643, "description": "Jonah Swallowed, 280\u201390 CE. Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian. Marble; overall: 50.4 x 15.5 x 26.9 cm (19 13/16 x 6 1/8 x 10 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1965.237", "relationship": null}, {"id": 141644, "description": "Jonah Cast Up, 280\u201390 CE. Anatolia, late Roman-early Christian. Marble; overall: 41.5 x 36 x 18.5 cm (16 5/16 x 14 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1965.238", "relationship": null}], "former_accession_numbers": [], "did_you_know": "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.", "early_education_description": null, "artlens_description": null, "description": "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\u2019s 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.", "external_resources": {"wikidata": ["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60761235"], "internet_archive": ["https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1965.241-the-good-shepherd"]}, "citations": [{"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 36", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n60"}, {"citation": "\u201cEarly Christian Sculptures at Cleveland.\u201d <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 54, no. 3 (March 1967): 67\u201388.", "page_number": "Reproduced: Cover, p. 77, 86; Mentioned: p. 75, 77, figs. 23, 24", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152146"}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 36", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n58"}, {"citation": "Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Margaret English Frazer, and Kurt Weitzmann. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Museum, 1977.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 407-411", "url": null}, {"citation": "Weitzmann, Kurt, and Margaret English Frazer.<em> Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art Third to Seventh Century</em> ; Based on the Catalogue to the Exhibition \"Age of Spirituality\", Metropolitan Museum New York, 1977. [New York, NY]: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.", "page_number": "pp. 406-411", "url": "https://books.google.com/books?id=efLuB7QPDm8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=cleveland&f=false"}, {"citation": "Kitzinger, Ernst. 1978. \"The Cleveland Marbles\". I Monumenti Cristiani Preconstantiniani.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 653-675", "url": null}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 34", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n54"}, {"citation": "McColl, Donald Alexander. <em>Early Christian Sculptures at Cleveland in Their Eastern Mediterranean Context</em>. 1991.", "page_number": null, "url": null}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 14", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1991/page/n29"}, {"citation": "Lehman, Karen M. \"Sacred and Profane Hellenizing Marbles of the Late Third Century Roman Empire: Secular Portraits and Religious Narrative Sculptures in the Cleveland Museum of Art Reviewed in the Cultural Context.\" M.A. thesis, Kent State University, 2004.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. v; Reproduced: p. 105; fig, 22", "url": null}, {"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein<em>. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.", "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 34-37, no. 1", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Franklin, David. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> London: Scala Arts &amp; Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 20 - 21", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.", "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 261", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Hornik, Heidi J. \"Freestanding Sculpture.\" In <em>The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art.</em>Jensen, Robin Margaret Jensen and Mark D. Ellison, editors. Abingdon Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 76. fig. 5.5", "url": null}, {"citation": "Rumscheid, Frank, Sabine Schrenk and Kornelia Kressirer. <em>Go\u0308ttliche Ungerechtigkeit?: Strafen und Glaubenspru\u0308fungen als Themen antiker und fru\u0308hchristlicher Kunst. </em>Petersberg: Dr. M. Imhof, 2018.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 305; IV.2.3; Abb. 15", "url": null}, {"citation": "Morgan, Faith Pennick. Dress and Personal Appearance in Late Antiquity: The Clothing of the Middle and Lower Classes. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2018, 145-146.", "page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 145-146, fig. 175", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Walker, Alicia. \"Iconomachy in Byzantium.\" In T<em>he Image Debate: Figural Representation in Islam and Across the World</em>. Melanie Gibson, editor. London: Gingko, 2019.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 89, fig. 4; Mentioned: p. 90", "url": null}, {"citation": "Bol, Peter, Carola Reinsberg, Renate Bol, D. Kreikenbom, Hans-Ulrich Cain, Heike Richter, and Britta O\u0308zen-Kleine. Plastik der ro\u0308mischen Kaiserzeit vom Regierungsantritt des Antoninus Pius bis zum Ende der Antike. Worms : Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, 2019.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 189, 191, 193-5; Reproduced: Abb. 181 (bd.2)", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane, and Gabriele Finaldi. A Guide to Christian Art. 2020, 68.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 68, fig. 7.", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Sa\u0301nchez Galera, Jose\u0301 Mari\u0301a, and Gregorio Luri Medrano. La edad de las nueces: los nin\u0303os en el Imperio Romano. Madrid : Ediciones Encuentro S.A., 2021.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 282, fig. 38", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Becherer, Joseph Antenucci, and Henry Luttikhuizen. Christ Among Us: Sculptures of Jesus Across the History of Art. Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2022.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 19; reproduced: p. 18, 123, no.1", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Wilhite, David E. \"Who is the Good Shepherd? Answers from Early African Sources.\" In <em>Early Christians and Their Art</em>, edited by Mikeal C. Parsons and Robin M. Jensen, 143-174. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2023.", "page_number": "Reproduced: p. 157, fig. 6.6, p. 161, fig. 6.7", "url": ""}, {"citation": "Chatterjee, Paroma.<em> The Bucolic Mode in Byzantine Art: Sound, Weather, Imperium</em>. Leeds, U.K.: ARC Humanities Press, 2025.", "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 23-24, fig. 2", "url": ""}], "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1965.241", "images": {"annotation": null, "web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_web.jpg", "width": "668", "height": "893", "filesize": "64705", "filename": "1965.241_web.jpg"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_print.jpg", "width": "2545", "height": "3400", "filesize": "857306", "filename": "1965.241_print.jpg"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_full.tif", "width": "4992", "height": "6668", "filesize": "99883036", "filename": "1965.241_full.tif"}}, "alternate_images": [{"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt0_web.jpg", "width": "668", "height": "893", "filesize": "65140"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt0_print.jpg", "width": "2545", "height": "3400", "filesize": "850737"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt0_full.tif", "width": "4992", "height": "6668", "filesize": "99890012"}, "date_created": "2008-04-15T18:01:54", "annotation": ""}, {"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt1_web.jpg", "width": "690", "height": "893", "filesize": "282251"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt1_print.jpg", "width": "2627", "height": "3400", "filesize": "4469033"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1965.241/1965.241_alt1_full.tif", "width": "4250", "height": "5500", "filesize": "70156336"}, "date_created": "2008-04-15T18:15:15", "annotation": ""}], "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund", "image_credit": null, "sketchfab_id": "6b5142ded40741a3be7376ab59ee04be", "sketchfab_url": "https://sketchfab.com/models/6b5142ded40741a3be7376ab59ee04be", "gallery_donor_text": null, "athena_id": 141651, "creators": [], "legal_status": "accessioned", "accession_date": "1965-09-11T00:00:00", "sortable_date": 280, "date_added_to_oa": null, "date_text": "280\u201390 CE", "collapse_artists": false, "on_loan": false, "recently_acquired": false, "record_type": "object", "conservation_statement": null, "has_conservation_images": false, "cover_accession_number": null, "is_nazi_era_provenance": false, "impression": null, "alternate_titles": [], "is_highlight": false, "updated_at": "2026-10-24 08:48:43.854000"}}