Christ Asleep during the Tempest

Delacroix · ca. 1853
The Met, New York

Eugène Delacroix, the leading French painter of the Romantic movement, returned to this story several times between about 1841 and 1854. This small canvas, painted around 1853, came to The Met in 1929 with the Havemeyer collection.

Delacroix uses quick, thick strokes of green and white for the waves and fills the boat with frightened, straining men. Only Jesus, at the stern, is still: he sleeps with his head on his hand, lit by a faint halo.

From the text

“A violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat” (Mark 4:37)

Jesus “in the stern, sleeping on the cushion” (Mark 4:38)

The disciples waking him in fear (Mark 4:38)

The artist’s own

A small open rowing boat in a huge, dark sea

Rocky mountains on the shore under a stormy sky

A halo around Jesus’ head

Details

Jesus asleep

At the stern, his head on his hand, with a faint golden halo.

Raised arms

A disciple throws up his arms against the storm.

In red

Another disciple turns towards the sleeping Jesus.

Drifting planks

Loose pieces of wood float in the waves.

Signature

Lower left, in dark paint: 'Eug. Delacroix'.

Eugène Delacroix, French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929; acc. 29.100.131) · Oil on canvas · Public Domain — The Met Open Access (CC0). The Met Collection API record: "isPublicDomain": true; The Met marks such works on its website "with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon".

The verses

Mark 4:35–41When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.” After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him. Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?” Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm. “Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?” Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”