OIL PAINTING: Venice, 1842
During the period of 1840-1844 , at the time this painting was created , Aivazovsky as a pensioner of the Academy of Fine Arts spent some time in Italy. In Rome he got acquainted with some of the outstanding people of the time. Aivazovsky made friends with Nikolai Gogol and was on good terms with Alexander Ivanov and other Russian artists living in Rome. He also traveled to Germany, France, Spain, and Holland. He worked much and had many exhibitions, meeting success everywhere he went. Aivazovsky painted a lot of marine landscapes, which became very popular in Italy: The Bay of Naples by Moonlight (1842), Seashore. Calm (1843); Malta Valetto Harbor (1844). Newspapers wrote: "Pope Gregory XVI has purchased Aivazovsky's painting Chaos and had it hung in the Vatican, where only the paintings of the world's greatest artists are considered worthy of a place".