DELACROIX, Eugène
(b. 1798, Charenton-Saint-Maurice, d. 1863, Paris)

Christ on the Lake of Gennezaret

1854
Oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

This scene is based on an incident recounted in three Gospels of the New Testament: a furious storm breaks out while Jesus and his disciples sail across the Lake of Gennezaret (Sea of Galilee) to spread Christ's message. To the disciples' amazement, Jesus calms the wind and the storm, dramatizing the power of Christian belief. Delacroix produced multiple variations on this theme in 1853 and 1854, when this particular biblical subject became popular with French Catholics during the reign of Louis-Napoléon (r. 1852-70).

The influence of Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa can be traced in this painting.