Christ on the Sea of Galilee by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). 1854. Oil on canvas. 23 9/16 × 28 7/8 in. (59.8 × 73.3 cm). The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, via Google Arts and Culture on the Creative Commons licence (CC by-nc-sa/3.0/).
This was a New Testament subject that interested Delacroix greatly, so that he produced a several paintings on the theme. In the bible, the disciples wake Jesus up, in fear of their lives; he then stills the storm: "And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm," Mark 4: 39. But there is no sense of panic here at all. In this version, Delacroix depicts the absolute trust of Jesus, who sleeps calmly despite the storm, and the heroism of the disciples, who, in their roles as fishermen, are busy exerting themselves to take all necessary measures to ensure the boat's safety — "negotiating the raging elements with strength and intelligence," so that the "heroism of faith stands side by side with the heroism of action" (Allard and Fabre 195). — Jacqueline Banerjee
Bibliography
Allard, Sébastien, and Côme Fabre. "The Sphinx of Modern Painting." Delacroix, by Sébastien Allard, Côme Fabre and others. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018. 1-222.
Christ on the Sea of Galilee. Google Arts and Culture. Web. 6 August 2025.
Last modified 6 August 2025