Christ on the Sea of Galilee by Eugene Delacroix

Delacroix treated this subject several times in 1853-54, and this series of canvases can be divided into two parts: those with rowboats and those with sailboats. The version in Baltimore belongs to the latter category. It is doubtless to this work that the artist was alluding when he noted, May 29, 1854: "Worked a little on the Christ on the Sea of Galilee: impression of sublimeness and light". The marine element is of prime importance here and we can see in it reflections of the observations made by Delacroix during his seaside visits to Dieppe in 1851, 1852, and 1854.

Le Moniteur universel of June 27, 1881, remarked: "Like Rubens, like Velazquez, like all the great universal masters, Eugene Delacroix outdoes the specialists whenever he attempts their genre. One can say that Jesus during the Storm is the finest seascape of the French school."

But this must not lead us to overlook the profoundly religious character of the work, in which the serene attitude of the sleeping Christ, bathed in a supernatural light, is opposed to the fury of the unleashed elements and the agitation of the other characters.