Being a world-famous artist, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky preferred to live and work in his homeland - Crimea. Aivazovsky is best known for his seascapes, which make up more than half of his work. The artist is considered one of the greatest marine painters of all time.
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Ivan Aivazovsky discovered his artistic and musical abilities from childhood; in particular, he taught himself to play the violin. He drew his first drawing of a sailboat with charcoal on the wall of the house at the age of 8. His parents supported their son, despite the difficult financial situation of the family, his father bought him pencils and paper. The Feodosia architect Yakov Khristianovich Koch, who was the first to pay attention to the boy’s artistic abilities, gave him his first lessons in craftsmanship. Yakov Khristianovich also helped young Aivazovsky in every possible way, periodically giving him pencils, paper, and paints.
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In the spring of 1838, the artist went to Crimea, where he spent two summers. He not only painted seascapes, but also engaged in battle painting, participated in military operations on the coast of Circassia, where, watching from the shore the landing in the Shahe River valley
At the end of the summer of 1839 he returned to St. Petersburg, where on September 23 he received a certificate of graduation from the Academy, his first rank and personal nobility. At the same time, he became close to the circle of Karl Bryullov and Mikhail Glinka.
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In July 1840, Aivazovsky and his friend in the Academy’s landscape class, Vasily Sternberg, went to Rome. Along the way they stopped in Venice and Florence. In Venice, Ivan Konstantinovich met Gogol, and also visited the Island of St. Lazarus, where, after many years of separation, he met his brother Gabriel, who lived in a monastery on the island. Aivazovsky left one of his works on a Biblical theme as a gift to the monks - the painting “Chaos. The Creation of the World,” written under the influence of his Italian acquaintance with A. A. Ivanov.
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In 1848, Aivazovsky got married. His first wife was an Englishwoman, Yulia Yakovlevna Grevs, the daughter of a doctor who served in the Russian armed forces with the rank of staff doctor. They had four daughters: Elena, Maria, Alexandra and Zhanna. After 12 years of marriage, his wife left him, but their marriage was dissolved only in 1877. The reason for the divorce was Aivazovsky’s systematic physical violence against his wife[39]. Several of Aivazovsky's grandchildren also became famous artists.
Aivazovsky’s second wife was the Armenian Anna Nikitichna (Mkrtichevna) Sarkisova-Burnazyan (1856-1944)[44]. The artist saw her at the funeral of her husband, a famous Feodosian merchant, in 1882. The beauty of the young widow struck Ivan Konstantinovich. A year later they got married. Anna Burnazyan was 40 years younger than her husband[45]. The gallery contains a portrait of Anna Nikitichna painted by Aivazovsky. Aivazovsky said that his marriage to Anna in 1882 “brought him even closer to his nation,” meaning the Armenian nation
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Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky died on April 19 (May 2, new style) 1900 in his hometown of Feodosia at the age of 82. In accordance with his will, Aivazovsky was buried in the courtyard of the Feodosia medieval Armenian church of St. Sarkis