Jay Shankar

Love Letter 1
May 16, 2021
Art History II

Eugène Delacroix’s “Christ on the Sea of Galilee”, painted in 1854, is a fascinating

painting to look at and is located in the Walter’s Museum of Art. This is one of his latest works

where he was already considered the leading painter of the French Romantic period. As said in

the Gardner, “Definitions of Romanticism usually emphasize its rejection of rationalism but

overlook its loathing of Materialism – in particular the utilitarian attitudes which played so

important a role in the Enlightenment’s attack on the church.” (73) Religious paintings during

this time are thus very common; if we start by looking at the subject matter, we can see that this

is a fairly religious scene; Jesus is lying down on the boat as his disciples try and navigate stormy

waters. They are fighting with the sails and trying to keep the ship afloat. The title of the painting

does not lead us to make an inference, but one can infer that maybe Delacroix was trying to

make a statement. While Jesus looks quite comfortable and content, his disciples look as if they

are scared for their lives, however, Delacroix could be saying that if you hold Jesus close, no

matter what struggles you must go through, you will make it out alive. This painting is possibly

one big symbol for a rocky life, the ship is you going through waves and wind that try to prevent

you from reaching your goals. The painting is a depiction of a New Testament story where Jesus

calms the storm after the disciples wake him up, extremely fearful. Jesus states “You of little

faith, why are you so afraid?” (Matthew 8:22-26) Rather than fit into rational rules, one is

encouraged to blindly follow the teachings of Christ. There are, however, certain signs that give

a feeling of hope in this painting. Everyone except for Jesus is wearing dark and serious colors so

our eyes are drawn to two sections of the painting which are bathed in light. The first is a break
in the clouds, light can be seen pouring through, giving a symbol of a new day and an end to the

storm, and the second is Jesus himself and the immediate surrounding area which sort of

resembles a halo. This was a result of this biblical topic becoming increasingly popular during

Louis Napoleon’s reign during 1852-1870. “Christ on the Sea of Galilee” is a good example of

oil paintings from the mid nineteenth century. Oil was used by Delacroix due to its bold colors

and its ability to dry quickly and with without changing color; Delacroix was notorious for

painting things very quickly. Just from looking at this painting and without even knowing who

painted it, we can see that it is a prime example of the French Romantic Period, and it is

confirmed by the fact that it was painted in 1854 in France. French Romanticism is all about

dramaticism and eliciting emotion from the viewer and this painting falls in that category.

Romanticism was a strong adverse reaction to the notions of Neoclassicism which was very

classical, rule based, and logical methods of painting. Romanticism sought to let feelings and

moods dictate subject matter and style in its paintings. Romanticism was less interested in the

rules of Classical life and painting, but rather with things that could not objectively be showed.

The power of nature was used in Romanticism to display unpredictability in stark contrast to the

perfectness of the Neoclassical world. It uses dramatic and dark colors and is depicting a very

not peaceful nor serene scene. In addition, Delacroix fell in love with the ability to portray tragic

events in paintings. Delacroix grew up during a time of great turmoil in France, the country was

in many wars with other powers of Europe, and he most likely grew up with suffering around

him. This time period was also instrumental in leading to French Romanticism, with many

painters responding to the conflict around them. Delacroix’s blending of colors for his Sea is

fascinating, instead of using blues and whites which to me represent the water, he uses a mixture

of greens and black with just insignificant amounts of white. The black paint creates dark and
ominous shadows in the water and make is seem like the horizon is unimportant, the darkness in

the water blends into a storm cloud. Another way that we can tell that this is an example of

French Romanticism is the lack of straight lines, in fact, there are only three in the whole piece:

the two masts and the horizon which as stated before, is blended in, and seems as if it is not

there. Neoclassicism, the earlier style, was all about clean lines and higher art. Delacroix uses

thick and heavy brushstrokes which eliminate clear lines, and his depiction of the human body is

another great example, they are twisted, frightened, and not necessarily painted to the most

accurate proportions. All of these qualities lead to the viewers imagination and lets them think

more rather than to have very clear lines. Another interesting thing is that while in

Neoclassicism, there is clear system of perspective and all the lines lead in the same direction,

here the ocean and sky has perspective, but the boat and humans seem to sort of be painted in

two dimensions, really demonstrating the effects of dramaticism. It seems like there is a lot of

influence from Théodore Géricault and his painting “The Raft of the Medusa”, which is another

example of a painting that uses a dramatic ship scene of dark, bold colors, twisting bodies, and

stormy seas. In addition to Géricault’s painting, J. M. W. Turner from England composed many

shipwreck scenes, his most famous being “The Shipwreck” and “The Slave Ship” which no

doubt Delacroix used as inspiration. Eugène Delacroix’s “Christ on the Sea of Galilee” is a prime

example of French Romanticism and is evidenced by his use of paint, color, line, and shape in

order to depict a dramatic work of art.

Accession number: 37.186