The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Title: The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 161.7 x 129.8 cm
Date: 1633
Location: Missing.

The painting depicts the miracle of Jesus calming the waves on the Sea of Galilee as recorded in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4:35-41. Having finished teaching to the multitudes on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus told his disciples to sail with him to the other side. En route, a great storm of wind rose, and the waves beat into the boat so strongly that the boat was filling. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion and they woke him saying “Teacher, don’t you care that we are going to perish?”... And Jesus replied “Why are ye fearful? Have ye not yet faith?”

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history, his work contributing to a period that historians call the Dutch Golden Age. Surprisingly, for painter from a seafaring nation, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee is Rembrandt’s only known seascape.

In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, thieves dressed as Boston police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole 13 works of art. The Storm on the Sea of Galilee was among the works of art stolen whose combined value has been estimated as high as $300 million. A reward of $5 million is offered for information leading to the return of the works of art in good condition