Vatican Museums

The beginnings of Christian sculpture are lost in the iconographic patrimony of religiously neutral themes from the third century: philosophical and bucolic scenes, marine idylls and seasonal themes. Among the first forms of Christian re-elaboration of these themes there is a re-evaluation of symbolic figures such as the person in prayer and the shepherd. At the end of this process, around the end of the third century, the first Christian scenes of biblical inspiration make an appearance alongside more ancient themes. This section of the Museum houses some of the symbolic masterpieces of early Christian art: the sarcophagus of Via Salaria, the statuette of the Good Shepherd and the sarcophagus of Jonah. The themes of Jonah and the Shepherd, in particular, provide a key to the understanding of the entire section, with examples that document the spread of these iconographic forms from the origins until the end of the fourth century.