The Storm on the Sea of Galilee - Canvas Print

In 1990, "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" was plucked from its gilded frame in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stolen in one of the most notorious art thefts in American history. It remains lost to this day, and is one of the most sorely missed examples of world art - its empty frame still hangs in the museum as a sullen reminder of its absence. Painted by a young Rembrandt in 1633, The "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" is an epiphanic seascape, a form unique in the artist’s oeuvre, and is reflective of an exciting period in the artist’s life following his decisive move to Amsterdam to make his name. The painting depicts a particular scene from the New Testament of the Bible wherein Jesus is seen to calm the storm through which his disciples attempt to cross the Sea of Galilee. It is not hard to see Rembrandt’s early popularity among patrons - the scene is resplendent in emotional resonances and a dizzying sense of turbulence. Clustered around the mast and clinging to any available fitting, the disciples are a mosaic of horror and gloom. There are only two faces within the scene that portray a sense of calm - Jesus and a mysterious thirteenth disciple. Their faith tested, the group display panic, doubt, and sorrow, but there is one individual who is aware of the fate of the fragile craft. Deep amid the crowd, staring straight out at the viewer is a self-portrait of Rembrandt himself, who contemplates his own place in this turbulent sea of belief and redemption.