Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Estate of George H. Shumann and C. W. Shumann, New York
Sale: American Art Association, New York, January 23, 1936, lot 102
Plaza Curiosity Shop, New York (acquired directly from the above)
Marjorie Merriweather Post
Thence by descent

"Schumann Left $79,908," New York Times, March 3, 1916
M.S. Sargsian, "Ayvazovski in America," Armenian Review, Winter 1986, vol. 39, no. 4-156, p. 84

This painting has been recently restored. It looks very well and should be hung as is. The canvas has an old glue lining which is nicely stabilizing the surface yet not reducing the texture of the paint, for instance in the reflections of the sun on the water. The paint layer is clean and has been varnished and retouched. As is often seen in Aivazovsky's larger pictures, some of the glazes in this picture have discolored and been abraded in an attempt to clean the paint layer and so thinness has developed, which has required retouching. This retouching is well matched and accurately applied; it can be seen throughout the painting. The figures in the row boat and the figures on the wharf in the lower left are undamaged for the most part. Some of the broader, paler dark stains in the sky in the upper right are not retouches but are original pigments. However, there are a good deal of retouches and areas of strengthening. The picture looks well and the restoration is very faithful to the original painting. The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Aivazovsky journeyed to America to represent Russian artists at the World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) in Chicago in 1893, where an astounding twenty of his pictures were sent for exhibition. He had begun a series of colossal canvases depicting the life of Columbus many years earlier, and he continued to paint variations on that theme even while he was in New York. Aivazovsky considered the fact that the four hundred year anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America was at hand, and he may well have wished to send these paintings to Chicago because he knew they would resonate with American viewers.

As M.S. Sargsian noted in his article "Ayvasovski in America", the archives of the federal gallery in Theodosia, named after Aivazovsky, has preserved a handwritten list by the artist, dated July 10, 1892, which lists the paintings that Aivazovsky intended to send to the Chicago exposition. Among them, five paintings devoted to the Columbus theme were included, and it appears that the present lot was listed as number 4, Columbus on the Spanish Port of Paula, bidding farewell prior to his departure, and it was originally three by five arshins long (approximately 2 by 3.5 meters).

Prior to his departure, Aivazovsky expressed his desire to revisit the Atlantic Ocean to a reporter for Russkii Vestnik, stating, "My main purpose for this journey is to see the ocean once more and to renew my impressions of the journey taken in the 1840s. I am fond of those impressions, of those sceneries with limitless water. One looks at the often changing views, feels a calmness and a strong desire to capture everything...everything in order to reproduce them on canvas" (as quoted in Shahen Khachaturian, Aivazovsky in America, p. 18). Aivazovsky and his wife traveled extensively throughout America from 1892-93, though weariness and business affairs in St. Petersburg precluded the couple from actually visiting the World's Fair. In the present lot, Aivazovsky depicts Columbus' early morning departure from the port of Palos, Spain, on August 2, 1492. His palette captures the early morning light with stunning effect, softly and slowly illuminating the composition.

Columbus Sailing from Palos comes to auction directly from the descendents of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), heir to the Post cereal fortune and one of America's first internationally recognized businesswomen. She lived in the Soviet Union from 1937-38 with her third husband, Ambassador Joseph E. Davies (as documented in the biographical film Mission to Moscow), and it was during this stay that she fell in love with Russian art; she acquired many icons, textiles and various other works of art directly from the Soviet government. Merriweather Post continued to add to her opulent Russian collection throughout her lifetime, and today her Washington D.C. estate, Hillwood, operates as a museum of Russian and French art.