Circle of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

In The Return, the artist constructs a relatively simple composition--at left a young wife and children have readied themselves for the homecoming of their husband and father, while at right two majestic ships approach the shore. At the horizon, the sea disappears into the sky, and the artist asserts nature as the powerful and vast unknown. When compared to a similar composition, Morning on the Sea (from the Collection of the Pavlosk Palace Museum), The Return exemplifies how Aivazovsky and his followers would re-envision the same subject with altered color tones, thereby creating an entirely different mood for the painting and its subject.