Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Painted in 1633, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee is Rembrandt van Rijn's only known seascape and one of the most dramatic paintings of the Dutch Golden Age. The large oil on canvas — approximately 160 by 128 centimetres — was completed when Rembrandt was just 27 years old, making it one of his earliest ambitious large-scale works. The painting depicts the biblical episode from the Gospel of Mark in which a sudden tempest threatens to capsize a fishing vessel carrying Christ and his disciples. Rembrandt renders the moment with overwhelming physical intensity: the mast bends, ropes strain, waves crash over the gunwale, and the crew struggles desperately to bring the sail under control. Amid the chaos Christ is depicted being roused from sleep, serene amid the terror surrounding him. Among the figures leaning over the side is thought to be a self-portrait of Rembrandt himself. The painting was acquired by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1898 and became one of the treasures of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, until March 1990 when two thieves disguised as police officers stole it along with twelve other works in the largest art theft in history. The painting has never been recovered and its whereabouts remain unknown.