Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Acquired by the present owners circa 1960

Structural Condition: The canvas is lined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. This is ensuring a stable structural support. There is an inscription and two wax stamps visible on the reverse of the central horizontal stretcher member. Paint Surface: The painting surface has an even varnish layer. The paint surface has an overall pattern of craquelure which is slightly raised in places, most notably within the water. There are also slight raised stretcher bar lines running horizontally through the centre of the composition. These appear to correspond to a previous support. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a discoloured layer which prevents the ultra-violet light from fully penetrating. Inspection under ultra-violet light also shows extensive scattered retouchings on top of the discoloured varnish layers, including: 1) large areas of retouching within the sky which are mainly concentrated in the upper left quadrant of the composition and also lines of retouching corresponding to the stretcher-bar lines mentioned above, 2) intermittent retouchings running along the extreme edges of the composition, 3) a large area of retouching with associated smaller retouchings below the right part of the upper edge, 4) scattered retouchings throughout the foreground including covering networks of craquelure within the sea in the lower left quadrant, and on and around the figures above the centre of the lower edge. Other scattered retouchings are also visible. Summary: The painting would therefore appear to be in fairly good and stable condition having undergone significant restoration work in the past.
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Renowned for his stormy seas, moonlit landscapes and sunsets, it is not surprising that Aivazovsky would have taken a keen interest in natural phenomena such as a solar eclipse. Aivazovsky’s biographer Nikolai Sobko lists a work titled The Eclipse of the Sun from 1851, which was given by the artist to the Imperial Geographical Society in St Petersburg. (G.Caffiero and I.Samarine, Seas, Cities and Dreams. The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, London, 2000, p.306). In Barsamov’s list of works in Soviet collections, the same painting is titled The Eclipse of the Sun in Feodosia (Geographical Society, Leningrad) and is thought to date from 1853 (ibid., p.289). The same year Aivazovsky was made a member of the Geographical Society.

In the present work painted a quarter of a century later, Aivazovsky returns to the depiction of light effects during an eclipse. It is possible that he painted it under fresh impressions or from his memories dating back to the solar eclipse in Feodosia in the early 1850s.

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