The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), oil on canvas painting by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, size 160 cm x 128 cm (62.99” x 50.39”), location: unknown since March 1990, when the painting was stolen by two unknown men from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA.

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633), the only seascape painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn was in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, before being stolen on March 18, 1990. The painting’s theme is based on the miracle of Jesus calming the waves on the Sea of Galilee (Ch 4, Gospel of Mark). The painting shows fourteen people in the boat, Jesus and his twelve disciples and the fourteenth person is believed to be Rembrandt himself, as he used to paint himself as one of the persons in pictures showing groups of people, especially in biblical themes.

The theft of the painting was reported to have happened in the morning of March 18, 1990, when two unidentified thieves broke into the museum and stole The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and 12 other works of art whose value has been estimated as high as $300 million. This hitherto unresolved theft case is considered the biggest art theft in the history of USA.

There is a page in the site of FBI named ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM THEFT where the case is reported and FBI asks the visitors to tip the FBI if they have any information on the theft of some paintings, including this Rembrandt and The Concert (Vermeer), A Lady and Gentleman in Black (Rembrandt), Self-Portrait (Rembrandt), Landscape with Obelisk (Govaert Flinck) and Manet (Chez Tortoni).