Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Sotheby's London, Icons, Russian Pictures and Works of Art, 17 June 1993, lot 333

G.Caffiero and I.Samarine, Seas, Cities and Dreams: The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London: Alexandria Press, 2000, p.172 illustrated
G.Caffiero and I.Samarine, Light, Water and Sky: The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London: Alexandria Press, 2012, p.308 illustrated

Structural Condition The canvas is lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. This is providing an even and stable structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has a slightly uneven varnish layer and an ingrained dirt layer mainly visible within the sky. There are some old discoloured retouchings visible in natural light in the sky. There are three small paint losses on the left part of the gondola in the lower centre of the composition and a further small loss within the figures on the moored boat in the lower right. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows scattered retouchings, most notably retouchings within the sky including along and just below the upper edge, retouchings along and just in from the left and right edges, an area above the architecture in the lower right, within the sail in the centre of the composition, to the left of the awning in the lower right, and within the tops of the architecture in the lower left of the composition. Other retouchings are also visible. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition and would benefit from cleaning, restoration and revarnishing.
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For an artist who excelled at the reflective effects of light on water, sails and cityscapes, it is unsurprising perhaps that in his painting Aivazovsky returned to the subject of Venice throughout his life. He was clearly drawn to this particular view of San Giorgio Maggiore and St Mark’s Square, which we find in his work as early as 1844 soon after he first visited the city in 1840 as a student of the St Petersburg Academy.

The present lot is an exceptional example, both in terms of the fine execution and the sense of depth to what is a complex composition. Unlike the majority of his Venetian views, here we find a fully worked and populated foreground on the quayside. The vignette of the orange seller and plump gentleman with his beautifully detailed parasol and rosary hanging by his side, together with the little boy and the stray oranges provides an enchanting keynote to the entire picture. A couple bargain with fruit vendors beneath an awning just beyond. These several groupings in the foreground also allow Aivazovsky to demonstrate his skill in depicting shadow, translucent material and reflected and absorbed light. The warm tones concentrated in the parasol lower right he extends across the entire painting from the lower clouds to the Doge’s Palace. The long thick brushstrokes Aivazovsky uses for the paving stones are characteristic of his foregrounds, while the light dashes of ochre on the two columns of St Mark’s Square are also pleasing hallmarks of his, more often found on the masts of his sailing ships as we note in fact in the left half of the painting.

The relative complexity of the present composition sets it apart from many of his other Venetian views which sometimes carry the two-dimensional air of a stage set, the gondolas passing each other between coulisses as it were. In the present lot, the central boat recedes down the main canal, a tug boat meeting it at an angle, the gondola passing in front in yet another plane with the fleet of large and smaller boats beyond to reinforce the sense of perspective. Together with the several diagonals in the composition, the triangular sails and canopy, there is a satisfying sense of tessellation and depth to the painting that reflects the competence of this mature artist.

By the early 1880s, Aivazovsky was long established as one of Russia’s pre-eminent painters and was in high demand at home and overseas. In 1880 he was wealthy enough to open an art museum in Theodosia on his own account; the following year he exhibited at the Pall Mall Gallery in London, where his work was admired by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema and John Everett Millais among others. Dynamic, detailed, beautifully observed and considered, the present work is certainly one of the best to appear at auction for the last decade and worth of the international acclaim he earned during his lifetime.

The present work is included in the numbered archive of the artist's work compiled by Gianni Caffiero and Ivan Samarine.