Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Basmadjian Gallery, Paris
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Moscow, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Collection Basmadjian, July-August 1988
Leningrad, The State Hermitage Museum, Collection Basmadjian, August-September 1988

G.Caffiero and I.Samarine, Seas, Cities and Dreams: The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London: Alexandria Press, 2000, p.155, pl.97 illustrated
G.Caffiero and I.Samarine, Light, Water and Sky: The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London: Alexandria Press, 2012, p.302 illustrated

Original canvas. The surface is covered with a layer of varnish. There is minor paint loss around the edges and in the lower right corner. There are fine lines of craquelure in the sky. Under UV pigment fluoresces around the edges, but varnish prevents a conclusive analysis. Held in a gold painted wood frame with plaster molding. Unexamined out of frame.
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Aivazovsky's ice paintings make up a uniquely small part of his oeuvre, but they showcase his versatility in depicting all forces of nature, from violent, stormy seas to calm, sunlit shores. After studying at the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg, the young artist spent much time travelling throughout Europe and the Crimea perfecting his exquisite technique.

His main experience with ice and snow would have come when he was still a young student at the Academy. It was not until years later, however, in the late 1860s and 1870s, that paintings of icy landscapes became more prominent within Aivazovsky’s oeuvre, mainly depicting the frozen Ukrainian steppes.

The present lot, executed in 1876, is from this very period. The flock of black birds congregating against the snowy expanse is a characteristic touch, shared by another work of that year, Winter Landscape, as well as by the masterpiece Ice-Breakers on the Frozen Neva in St. Petersburg from 1877. Using luminescent greys and purples, Aivazovsky evokes the sense of unbearable cold while conveying the contrasting forces of human strength versus nature as five men work to haul a horse and carriage from the broken ice.

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