Art of the Week #1: The Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Rembrandt's warning to heed the captain...

Rembrandt’s only known seascape, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), vividly depicts the Biblical scene just before Christ calms the waters in the book of Mark. Light illuminates the bow as it rocks upward from the force of a wave, while the stern remains in shadow. Aside from the sheer dynamism of the piece, however, what is most interest…