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Jonah emerging from the belly of the whale

Maker

(artist)
1500-1560

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1500-1599

Title

Jonah emerging from the belly of the whale

Date of Production

1560 - 1570

Medium

brown ink, brown wash, white bodycolour (now oxidised) on laid paper, squared in black chalk, now laid down on Japanese tissue; former paper mount in box in P&D

Dimensions

Height: 28.7 cm
Width: 26.1 cm

Accession Number

D.1958.WF.4662

Mode of Acquisition

Witt Fund, purchase, 1958 (March)

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords







Label Text

This highly finished composition depicts the Old Testament story of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale and ejected from its belly after three days. In the Bible, Jonah’s story foreshadowed the Resurrection of Christ, which is appropriately represented in the background. After finishing the drawing with great care, the artist applied a squaring grid to aid in transferring the image to another surface.

Provenance

Mrs Mavis Strange; purchased from her by Colnaghi (London), 10 November 1957; purchased there by The Courtauld via the Witt Fund, 12 March 1958 (£50)

Exhibition History

Special Display - The Grid, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 26/01/2012-28/05/2012

A selection of drawings from the Witt collection: French drawings c. 1600-c. 1800, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1962

Literature

Jean Cousin: père et fils, une famille de peintres au XVIe siècle, Musée du Louvre, Paris., 2013
p.30, fig. 12 on p. 28

Inscriptions

Watermark: none.

Inscription: Former mount (now removed, kept in portfolio in P&D): lower right, graphite, Colnaghi number: "A22392".

Collector's mark: none.

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