OIL PAINTING: Evening in the Crimea, 1848
Ivan Konstantin Aivazovsky is the Russian painter of seascapes by excellence. During his lifetime, Aivazovsky was internationally renowned and celebrated among his fellow painters. The lighting effects which he achieved, especially in his seascapes such as Night on the Black Sea (1879) and in historic paintings such as The Loss of the Lefort (1858) are truly spectacular, reminiscent of the English master, Turner, whom Aivazovsky met in 1842. Aivazovsky traveled estensively, both in central Asia and the West (Greece, France, and the United States). Aivazovsky produced magnificent seascapes of Asia Minor and the Isles of Greece, and presented his self-portrait to the Pitti Gallery in Florence. The artist has not had the recognition he deserves in the West, now that the work of realist painters is once again held in esteem.