Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky
(1817-1900)
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was born in 1817 in the Crimea, in Feodosiya. His mother was an Armenian and grandfather was a Turk, who had been killed in the battle while capturing the Bendera’s fortress. Aivazovsky’s father was adopted as an orphan by the Armenian family. I. K. Aivazovsky’s family was poor, but due to his great talent he was accepted to the Simferopol gymnasium, and then to the Academy of Arts in Petersburg, where he studied under M. N. Vorobiev, F. Tanner and V. E. Raev. Later he received pension in Academy and lived in the Crimea (1838-40) and Italy (1840-44), visited England, Spain, Germany, travelled about Russia, the Middle East, Africa, America. In 1844 Aivazovsky was attached to the General Naval Headquarters and in 1847 he became a professor of the Petersburg Academy of Arts. He was also the member of many others European Academies: in Rome, Florence, Amsterdam and Stuttgart. In 1845 Aivazovsky together with the expedition of F. P. Litke travelled to Turkey and Asia Minor. The result of this travel was a lot of album sketches. At the end of 1845 the artist visited Feodosiya, which became his main residence at the end of his life. There he opened the School of Art and the Art Gallery (1880). Aivazovsky painted up to the end of his life, he died on May 2, 1900. According to his own words he created about 3000 oil pictures and countless sketches.
