Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
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 12:40John 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."
Lorenzetto died in 1541 but ten years later, in 1552 Lorenzo Leone Chigi paid his debt towards the heirs of Lorenzetto, and the two statues were finally placed in the chapel. They were supposedly located on the two sides of the entrance, at least this was their recorded position when Fabio Chigi first visited the chapel in 1626. Between 1652 and 1656 Gian Lorenzo Bernini restored the chapel, and created two new statues (Habakkuk and the Angel, Daniel and the Lion) to fill the still empty niches. At the time the statue of Jonah was moved to its present place on the left of the main altar.
John Shearman Fabio Chigi Raphael right statue of Elijah Lorenzetto Agostino Chigi left resurrection Jonah Gian Lorenzo Bernini Vasari Old Testament