We then become caught up in the disciples’ terrified responses, each meticulously characterized to encourage and sustain prolonged, empathetic looking. The spectacle of darkness and light formed by the churning seas and blackening sky immediately attracts our attention. For greatest immediacy, he depicted the event as if it were a contemporary scene of a fishing boat menaced by a storm. The painting showcases the young Rembrandt’s ability not only to represent a sacred history, but also to seize our attention and immerse us in an unfolding pictorial drama. Nature’s upheaval is both cause and metaphor for the terror that grips the disciples, magnifying the emotional turbulence and thus the image’s dramatic impact. Awakened by the disciples’ desperate pleas for help, he rebukes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” and then rises to calm the fury of wind and waves. Amidst this chaos, only Christ, at the right, remains calm, like the eye of the storm. One of the disciples succumbs to the sea’s violence by vomiting over the side. The panic-stricken disciples struggle against a sudden storm, and fight to regain control of their fishing boat as a huge wave crashes over its bow, ripping the sail and drawing the craft perilously close to the rocks in the left foreground. The biblical scene pitches nature against human frailty – both physical and spiritual. Eighteenth-century critics like Arnold Houbraken often preferred this early period to Rembrandt’s later, broader, and less descriptive manner. The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the relatively polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style. Dated 1633, it was made shortly after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam from his native Leiden, when he was establishing himself as the city’s leading painter of portraits and historical subjects. Rembrandt’s most striking narrative painting in America, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, is also his only painted seascape. Dealer in Plate-Glass Dimensionsġ60 x 128 cm (63 x 50 3/8 in.) Display Media

ing glass man./ 23, Coventry Street / London. Hope / Belgrave SquarePartial printed label (adherred to the back of the frame): H. Christ with his Disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee / Name and Address of Proprietor. Name of Artist.Rembrandt / Title of Work. Royal Academy Exhibition of the Works of the Old Maaters, 1881. f/1633Printed and handwritten label (adherred to the back of the frame): N.B.-This label to be affized to the back of the frame (not the canvas) of the Picture. in September 1898 for £6,000, through Bernard Berenson (1865-1959), American art historian. Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Colnaghi & Co. from Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope in 1898. Purchased by the art dealers Asher Wertheimer and Colnaghi & Co. Moved to London.Ĭollection of Henry Philip Hope possibly by 1802 and exhibited at the home of his eldest brother, Thomas Hope (1769-1831), London in 1819.īy descent to Henry Thomas Hope (1808-1862), son of Thomas Hope, Surrey in 1839.īy descent to Adèle Bichat Hope (d.1887), widow of Henry Thomas Hope, in 1862.By descent to Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope (d.1941), grandson of Adèle Bichat Hope and the 8th Duke of Newcastle, London in 1884. 1790), widow of John Hope, Amsterdam in 1784.īy descent to Thomas Hope (1769-1831), Adrian Elias Hope (1772-1834), and Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839) sons of John Hope and Philippina Barbera van der Hoeven, Amsterdam in 1790.Ĭollection of Adrian Elias Hope (1772-1834) and Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839) under the guardianship of their cousin, Henry Hope (about 1739-1811) in 1794.

Wubbels at the Braamcamp sale, Amsterdam on 31 July 17 guilders, lot 172.Ĭollection of John Hope (1737-1784), Amsterdam.By descent to Philippina Barbera van der Hoeven (d. 1746), a calico-printer, Amsterdam.Collection of Gerrit Braamcamp (1699-1771), Amsterdam before 1750.

Peter's ship)Ĭollection of Jacques Specx (1588/89-1652), a Governor General of the East Indies, Amsterdam by 1653.Ĭollection of Jacob Jacobsz Hinloopen (1644-1705), a burgomaster and sheriff, Amsterdam by 1705.Collection of Johannes Coop (d. Possibly in the collection of Tymen Jacobsz Hinloopen (1572-1637), Amsterdam by 1644. Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee Creation Date

Long lost masterpiece sold christ