Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Sebastian Kuettner, or Sevastian Osipovich Kitner in Russian, was an Austrian subject born in Moravia, who came to the Russian capital in 1819. He would become one of the leading manufacturers of lamps and chandeliers for the palaces of St Petersburg, even supplying the Imperial Court.

The painting shows many characteristic features of Aivazovsky's work, and the signature matches those on other paintings from the 1860s. The IR reflectogram does not appear to reveal any underdrawing and the work is therefore being sold without a full attribution.