How Aivazovsky became the first Russian artist in the Louvre

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

You can talk about some Russian classical artists of the 19th century indefinitely, listing all their achievements and merits, interesting facts from their personal lives, revealing the secrets and secrets of their skill. One of these - Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovski, the world famous marine painter, around whose name incredible stories and legends still circulate.

Today I would like to talk about several years of his life from the biography of the brilliant marine painter, spent abroad, which became truly triumphant for him. And also about the merits of the artist during his service at the Main Naval Headquarters of the Navy of the Russian Empire as a painter.

The element of the sea on the canvases and the exploits of the sea of the greatest marine painter

Having received in 1837 the Great Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts for the competitive work "Calm", 20-year-old Aivazovsky was awarded a retirement trip to the Crimea and Europe. And it happened exactly two years before its end. The teachers unanimously decided that everything that they could give a young talented student within the walls of the Academy had already been given, and that it was time to send him into free swimming, for independent acquisition of experience and skill.

But circumstances soon arose, according to which the trip to Europe had to be postponed for almost three years. Admiral of the Black Sea Fleet Mikhail Lazarev invited Aivazovsky to take part in a combat landing to the shores of the Caucasus on a flagship in order to capture the power of the Russian fleet and its weapons for history. Ivan, still at the academy, addicted to seascapes and everything that was associated with the sea, was the best candidate for this goal.

For the young artist, this trip has become both a good school of life and a rather risky undertaking. After all, history remembers how the outstanding artist of the 19th century Vasily Vereshchagin died on board a warship, literally with a brush in his hands, capturing a naval battle during the Russian-Japanese war.

Fate for Aivazovsky turned out to be more favorable - both then, during the first baptism of fire, and later, when he, already being a painter of the Main Naval Staff of Russia, participated in naval battles. In those days, artists were assigned to warships in order to capture the unfolding hostilities and their consequences. And this meant that they were constantly, like all the other members of the team, exposed to danger and could die from a stray bullet or shell.

Resurrected from the dead

But Ivan Konstantinovich once still had to endure the incredible force of the sea element in his life, when he happened to really look death in the eye. This happened just at the end of a pensioner's trip to European countries, which he nevertheless went on after returning from the Caucasus in 1840. On the way of a passenger steamer from England to Spain in the Bay of Biscay, it was overtaken by a fierce storm. Passengers, mad with fear and despair, rushed about the ship. The artist, who was trying to stay on the deck, also had blood in his veins with horror. And then at one moment he suddenly caught himself on the fact that involuntarily admiring the amazing view of the seething sea and the timid rays of the sun breaking through the formidable clouds. This ominous and at the same time breathtaking view has engraved the painter in the memory of his whole life. And when in 1850 he conceived his "Ninth Wave", it was this moment that surfaced before his eyes.

Then, by a miracle, their ship survived, and many managed to get ashore in the harbor of Lisbon. And by that time, news had already spread around half of Europe that a steamer that had fallen into a storm with a crew and passengers eaton. The lists included in the obituary also included the name of Aivazovsky.

The Russians have such a sign that if a person is buried ahead of time, he will live for a long time. And so it happened. Ivan Konstantinovich went through a life path of 82 years.

King of the Sea

It will be worth remembering one more small legendary story related to the sacred significance of the sea in the life of Ivan Konstantinovich. She became famous thanks to the eyewitness artist Konstantin Lemokh. Once Emperor Nicholas I, going to sea on a paddle steamer, invited Aivazovsky with him. And when they moved away from the coast, an eyewitness witnessed the following picture: the sovereign stood on the casing of one steamer wheel, and the artist - on the other. And Nikolai shouted at the top of his lungs: “Aivazovsky! I am the king of the earth, and you are the king of the sea! And this really was the lion's share of the truth.

Overseas glory of the great painter

And now is the time to return to the picturesque element of the sea, created by the master, at the very beginning of his creative career. It was in those years that the artist gained worldwide fame, becoming a favorite of the European public. But about all this in order …

In 1840, Aivazovsky was finally able to travel abroad. First, he settled in Italy, where he studied with gusto, improved his skills, absorbing the atmosphere of the ancient art of this country and created his amazing canvases. By the way, it was then that he developed his notorious technique - to write from memory.

The paintings, painted in Venice, Florence, Naples, soon began to be exhibited at exhibitions in Rome and immediately brought great success to the young artist, with which he also received substantial income. This gave the seascape painter the opportunity to travel to European countries, and he visits Switzerland, Germany and England and everywhere his creations caused overwhelming success among the audience.

And in 1843, the French government expressed a desire for Aivazovsky to send his works for exhibition at the Louvre. At the appointed time, they were given three canvases to Paris: "The sea in calm weather", "Night on the shores of the Gulf of Naples" and "Storm off the coast of Abkhazia".

The artist painted two of the three canvases while still living in Italy, but the third he had to create directly for the exhibition itself. Thinking for a long time over the choice of the plot, the master settled on the most sentimental. Once, during the Caucasian battles, he happened to witness how off the coast of Abkhazia a Russian warship rescued a poker with captive young mountain women in the open sea, during a storm that arose. He put all his skill and inspiration into this canvas, since he understood that he had a special mission - to represent the art of his country in the capital of France.

In the very first days after the opening of the exhibition, paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky became the greatest event in the artistic life of Paris. Thousands of spectators came to admire them. For a long time already, the Parisian press did not praise the work of a foreign artist in this way.

And the French, conquered by the artist's talent, literally began to idolize him. They were magically attracted by the Italian views illuminated by the festive light and plunged into deep comprehension the plot about Abkhaz women rescued by Russian sailors from both the depths of the sea and from the enslavers.

And a little later, summing up the results of the exhibition, the Council of the Paris Royal Academy of Arts awarded the master with a gold medal. Aivazovsky's triumph in Paris was truly a triumph for Russian art. The whole Paris applauded the young seascape painter from Russia, from the general public and even adamant critics to Parisian artists who sincerely admired the talent of their Russian colleague.

After such an overwhelming success in the life of Ivan Aivazovsky, the time of continuous wanderings began. They wanted to see his work in many cities of Europe, and he himself "strove to see more and more coastal cities, harbors, ports, listen to the sound of waves, observe calm and storms of various seas." He admired London, Lisbon, Madrid, Grenada, Seville, Cadiz, Barcelona, Malaga, Gibraltar, Malta … And this list can be enumerated for a long time. For when he left Europe in 1844, his foreign passport already looked like a thick notebook (additional sheets were attached to the passport), where there were 135 visas.

And it should be noted that, despite his triumph, Aivazovsky returned to Russia two years ahead of schedule. The reason for his unexpected decision to return home without delay was an article published in a Parisian newspaper, which said that

Aivazovsky was seriously offended by the journalists' trick. How could anyone think that he, Aivazovsky, could exchange his homeland for fame and prosperity ?! Therefore, the artist immediately sent a petition to St. Petersburg with a request for permission to return to Russia, having received which he set off on the road. On the way, he stopped in Amsterdam - the cradle of marine painting, where he was warmly received by the public and fellow painters. Moreover, he was awarded the title of a member of the Amsterdam Academy of Arts.

With an unprecedented triumph in the summer of 1844, Aivazovsky returned to St. Petersburg and was literally showered with numerous honors and honorary titles (up to the rear admiral). And from the side of the St. Petersburg Academy, he was also awarded the honorary title of academician. And then the newly-made academician was only 27 years old …

In the amazing biography of the great marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky, there is still a lot of intriguing facts that few people know.