Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky

In this exquisite scene, Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky depicts Yalta on the Crimean coast in the early morning light. The artist frames the view of the coastline with the majestic silhouettes of the cypresses in the foreground. A cart drawn by two oxen is making its way towards us into the cool shadows of the foreground. The darker green hues contrast with the translucent pastel colours of the mountains beyond. The rose-pink rays of the rising sun have just reached the high cliffs above Yalta, with the silhouette of Aiu-Dagh looming in the horizon. The artist lets the soft hues of pink wash over the motif, recurring in the boats moored in the bay and on the rooftops of the buildings in the harbor. Throughout his life, Aivazovsky turned frequently to his beloved Crimea for inspiration and reveled in the subtle differences of various light effects on the same landscape.

Aivazovsky is associated with the greatest achievements in marine painting and laying the foundation of Russian naval painting. He became a model for several other prominent Russian artists who focused on depicting seascapes. Born in 1817 into a poor Armenian family in the small coastal town of Feodosia in the Crimea, he was fortunate to begin his art studies at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1833.
His first paintings, exhibited in the late 1830s, attracted great attention for their technical brilliance, their accurate representation of nature and the enthusiasm that permeated his work. He was fascinated by the sea, its powerful, uncontrollable natural forces and constant change. Brilliant colors and strong tones in Aivazovsky's paintings testify to his devotion to the ideals of Romanticism.

During the 1840s Aivazovsky traveled extensively in Russia, Europe, and America. During his travels, he painted frequently, and thanks to his personality, which was characterized by a positive attitude to life, drive and warm humanity, he was able to make contacts easily. In 1848 he returned to his hometown of Feodosia on Crimea, where he lived for the rest of his life.
In 1865 Aivazovsky became a professor and later a member of the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, and during the same period he was made an honorary member of the Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, and Stuttgart Academies of Fine Arts for his great achievements in painting.

Aivazovsky organized over 120 exhibitions of his paintings both in Russia and in Europe, the proceeds of which went to charities such as poor artists, actors, students and families in Armenia who lived in scarce conditions. In 1865 he founded an art school at his studio in Feodosia, where talented young artists could study under his guidance. Fifteen years later he opened an art gallery in his studio, which became a cultural center.

Aivazovsky led an ambitious and active life and his career as an artist spanned almost 65 years. A large part of his oeuvre consists of sea scenes, but he also painted cityscapes from Moscow, St Petersburg and Odessa, as well as landscapes from Ukraine and the Caucasus, among other places. From the 1870s he began to be influenced by the new democratic trends in art, and the Romantic features were somewhat muted in his output. He began to depict reality in a more realistic manner, and superficial effects and brilliant coloring were replaced by calmer and softer tones.

Imperial provenance
Alexander Alexandrovich, the future Alexander III, was a great art collector. He married Princess Dagmar of Denmark, Maria Feodorovna, in 1866. The royal couple moved into the Anichkov Palace, where the growing art collection was housed. The artist Bogoljuboff, a close friend and advisor to Alexander Alexandrovich, was responsible for acquiring new works for the growing collection.
Alexander III often travelled around Russia and Europe buying and commissioning new works of art. The imperial collection would eventually consist of over 800 works. On Bogoljuboff's initiative, an inventory of the crown pretender's collections was drawn up in 1872 in the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg. From the 1870s to the 1920s the collection was housed in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. The paper label of the Anichkov Palace has most probably been attached to the reverse side of the panel of the offered lot, but has been lost in handling over the years.

After the 1917 revolution, all imperial property was nationalized. All items were carefully documented and labelled with inventory numbers. The imperial couple's private room in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo was opened as a museum to the public. Around 1930, Soviet museums were ordered to identify works that could be sold to bring foreign currency into the country. The museum in the Alexander Palace was closed and the large collection of art, furniture and personal belongings formerly owned by Tsar Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were transferred to the Gosfond State Fund Commission for sale. The inventory number preserved on the back of the frame dates to the 1920s, when the present lot was included in the inventory for sale ('A.D.M 26915'- for Aleksandrovskii Dvorets-Muzei) and moved to State Gosfond Commission (inventory number 912/760/1).

Swedish provenance
Around 1914, Swedish commercial interest in St Petersburg was at its peak. Export companies, founded during the industrial breakthrough of the 1890s were increasingly attracted to the Russian market, including AB Separator, Asea, SKF, Alfa-Laval, AGA, Bolinders, L M Ericsson and Nobel. During this period and after the revolution it was possible to acquire furniture, art and works of art. Several items of imperial provenance were sold at auction around 1920/30 in the then Soviet Union. The painting in this auction was acquired at this time and was then shipped to Sweden and has remained in the family since then.