Friday, September 8, 2017

Calming the Storm

Jesus Calming the Storm, Book of Hours,
French, Paris, 1430-1435,
New York, Morgan Library,
MS M359, fol. 62r


"He got into a boat and his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?"  Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?"
(Matthew 8:23-27)
 
To all of you who may be either enduring or awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Irma, I thought I would post some images that illustrate the story of Jesus' calming of the waves.  No great thoughts or iconographic analysis, this post will just be images, arranged chronologically.
 








  • From the Middle Ages
    Jesus Calming the Storm
    from Gospel Book of Otto III 
    German (Reichenau), late 10th Century
    Munich, Staatsbibliothek
    MS Clm 4453 (detail)


Jesus Calming the Storm
from Pictorial Bible of Abbey of St. Bertin
French (St. Omer), 1190-1200
The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek
MS 76F5, fol. 14 (detail)
Jesus on Sea of Galilee
from Sermons of Maurice de Sully
Italian (Milan or Genoa), 1320-1330
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 187, fol. 7 (detail)

  • To the Renaissance 

Jan Brueghel the Elder, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Flemish, ca. 1596
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

  •  To the Baroque
Rembrandt, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,
Dutch, 1633,
Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  • To the Romantic Era
Eugene Delacroix, Christ in the Tempest,
French, 1853,
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • To the Impressionist Era
  • James Tissot, Jesus Calming the Storm, from Life of Jesus,
    French, 1888-1896
    New York, Brooklyn Museum
  • To the Twentieth Century
Girogio Di Chirico, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,
Italian, 1914
Vatican City State, Collection of Modern Religious Art

So, stay safe and remember that the storm is bigger than all of us, but not bigger than God.

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