This is (or maybe was, sadly) a famous painting, but I haven't been able to find anyone else who thinks the boat looks strange.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Storm_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee
At first glance, it looks like the front of the boat is to the left and the back is to the right, as there are little pointed prow-like ends there. But no, the mast is off to one side. So apparently the back half of the boat is a sort of semi-circular design, then there's this irregular bit that sticks out in front, where the mast is. But the front looks almost unfinished, more like rocks than the front of a boat. The overall design seems roughly triangular, with those pointed bits sticking off to the side. And the mast still looks off-center to me.
I've never heard of a boat that looked like that. Were there any such designs in the seventeenth century Netherlands, or maybe in Roman Palestine? Can someone find me a clearer picture of what this boat might have looked like? Or had Rembrandt somehow just never seen a boat before when he went to paint this?
I've been googling this and found nothing, so I wanted there to be at least some record on the internet of someone asking this question.
Edit: Here's a drawing in the Wellcome Collection, based on the painting, where the boat can be seen a little more clearly, and it looks even more odd: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/u3etf9s9
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