Christ at the Sea of Galilee
Jacopo Tintoretto·c. 1570s
Historical Context
Christ at the Sea of Galilee, associated with the circle of Jacopo Tintoretto and possibly by the Dutch-born Lambert Sustris working in Venice, dates to the 1570s and exemplifies the complex collaborative and workshop environment of mid-sixteenth century Venetian painting. Lambert Sustris, who had trained in Italy under an uncertain master before establishing himself in Venice and later Augsburg, developed a distinctive landscape manner that combined the atmospheric depth of Venetian painting with the more naturalistic figure types of his northern European training — a combination that occasionally confused later attributors who noted both Venetian and Flemish qualities in his work. The subject of Christ appearing to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee after the Resurrection — with the dramatic storm-tossed lake and the distant figure of Christ on the shore — required exactly the kind of expansive atmospheric landscape that distinguished Sustris from most Venetian contemporaries. The National Gallery of Art in Washington holds this as a work of scholarly interest documenting the international exchange between Venetian and Flemish painting traditions in the generation after Titian.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas combines Tintorettesque figure dynamics with a luminous landscape and seascape that may reflect Sustris's northern European sensibility. The dramatic handling of light across the water and the expressive figure poses show the influence of Tintoretto's theatrical style.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the luminous seascape and landscape background, which may reflect Sustris's northern European sensibility.
- ◆Look at the figure dynamics that show Tintorettesque influence — dynamic poses and theatrical gestures.
- ◆Observe the dramatic handling of light across the water, creating atmospheric effects unusual in Italian painting.
- ◆The expressive figure poses combine Venetian energy with a distinctive northern quality in the landscape treatment.
- ◆Find the contrast between the more carefully rendered figures and the freely painted atmospheric sea and sky.
Provenance
Count Joseph Gallotti.[1] (Durlacher Brothers, New York).[2] Arthur Sachs [1880-1975], New York, by 1925;[3] sold March 1943 through (Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York) and (Moses & Singer, New York) to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1952 to NGA. [1] This name appears on an undated prospectus for the painting in NGA curatorial files. The painting was not in the Gallotti sale at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on 28 June 1905. [2] There is no record of this painting in the extant Durlacher stockbooks at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. [3] Tancred Borenius, "A Seascape by Tintoretto," _Apollo_ 2 (July-December 1925): 249. [4] The painting is recorded as being with the dealer Jacques Seligman in New York by Fern Rusk Shapley, _Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI–XVIII Century_, London, 1973: 53, and in Germain Seligman, _Merchants of Art: 1880-1960, Eighty Years of Professional Collecting_, New York, 1961: pl. 87. However, according to Seligmann records, the firm did not own the picture but acted for Sachs in its sale (Seligmann Papers, Archives of American Art, Washington: Series 2.1, Collectors Files, Box 204, folder 1, copy in NGA curatorial files). The bill of sale to the Kress Foundation for two paintings, dated 25 March 1943 and including Tintoretto's "Christ on Lake of Galilee," is on Moses & Singer letterhead and indicates that the sale is from "Mr. Arthur Sachs c/o Moses & Singer" (copy in NGA curatorial files). See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/508.
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