Photo: Ivan Aivazovsky. The Bay of Naples by Moonlight, 1842. Oil on canvas. The Aivazovsky Art Gallery, Feodosia, Ukraine.

Some of his most magnificent and famous masterpieces were painted in Italy. Among those fabulous masterpieces, we recognize “The Bay of Napoli by Moonlight”, 1842, “Valetto Harbor”, 1844 and “Seashore at Malta”, 1843. At that time in history, Aivazovsky did not need a model to pose for him, nor did he spend prolonged hours before sceneries, shores, beaches, ocean or ships to complete a painting. He had a legendary artistic memory. He was able to reproduce on the linens, what he has already seen  for a very short time. In fact, he reconstructed the whole sceneries from memory, including the movements of the waves, the structural design of ships, the shape of the shores, the motion of the ocean, the lights of the harbors, the silhouette of the sailors, fishermen and maritime personages from his own imagination. He repainted absolutely everything with an astonishing exactitude. He did not even draw preliminary sketches. Quite remarkable!  In 1844, he returned to St. Petersburg. Upon his arrival, the government bestowed upon him the title of “Academician”, a very prestigious award exclusively given for the elite of a particular field. The Russian government deeply admired his legendary artistic creativity and fluency in various languages and decided to nominate him as an “Attache” to the General Naval Headquarters. This was perfect for him, for this position would allow him to travel abroad with the Russian fleet.

This is how, he was able to visit the United States, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Being a naval attaché, Avaizovsky was exposed to many military maritime maneuvers as well as to real naval battles. From 1846 to 1848, he painted numerous canvases depicting naval warfare themes and scenes. Some of his most famous military naval battles paintings are “The Battle in the Chios Channel”, 1848, “ The Battle of Chesme”, 1848 and  “Meeting of the Brig Mercury”, 1848. Around 1850-1852, Aivazovsky entered the romantic phase of his artistic career. His colors became more romantic, the lights in his paintings became more nostalgic and mysterious, and the whole atmosphere of his themes conveyed intimacy in structure, dramatic dominance and an almost frightening human drama shared by men of the sea and its immense mysteries. Such romantic drama and lyrical expressions were graciously and predominantly expressed in many of his new works, to name a few: “The Sea”, 1853, “The Storm”, 1854, “ The Black Sea”, 1881, “The Tenth Wave”, “The Rainbow”, 1873, “The Shipwreck”, 1876 and “The Billow”, 1889. In addition to his artistic genius, the man was a great humanitarian. He gave generously to many charitable causes and founded numerous schools of arts such as “Feodosia School of Arts” in 1865 and the “Feodosia Art Gallery” in 1889. The era of modern Armenian painting began in 1828 when East Armenia (previously a part of the Persian empire) became  a “new part”  of the Russian Empire, a continuity sequence of permanent domination by foreign powers. But, a least, this new foreign domination would allow Armenian arts and literature to flourish. Armenian arts, literature, poetry and other forms of creative endeavors received a new boost under the Russian occupation. It was characterized by a direct rapport and vital relationships among Armenians, Orthodox Russians  and Europeans. Despite a close relationship with Russian and European arts and culture, the Armenian art did not reach its highest level, glory, fame and did not gain an international recognition in the world art communities until  Hovannes Aivazovsky  began to  capture the beauty, secrets, mysteries, tales, waves, hopes, adventures, soul and spirit of the sea, its people, its maritime battles and ships on hundreds of his majestic paintings. He was the master and confident of the seascape, its depth with all its colors, frightening and friendly waves flirting on the shores or destroying ships and enemies vessels. No doubt, no painter in the eastern and western hemisphere (up to now) could rival Aivazovsky’s artistic genius and knowledge of the sea. Before the arrival of this genius, Armenia was content with illustrious artifacts and art products of a different dimension, nature and scope. Armenia was in the business of exquisite rugs, icons, the manufacturing of holy crosses, Katchkars (cross carved stones) and illuminated manuscripts. The history of modern and universal Armenian art really began with Aivazovsky.

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