Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  Acquired by the great-grandmother of the present owner, an ethnic Greek who lived in Odessa, and married into an important shipping family who operated in and around the Black Sea
  Thence by descent
  
  We are grateful to Gianni Caffiero for confirming the authenticity of the offered lot.
  
  Please note that this painting will feature in the forthcoming monograph on the artist being prepared by Gianni Caffiero and Ivan Samarine, due for publication at the end of 2010.
  
  It would appear that this painting marks the genesis of the ideas behind the much larger Chaos, 1841 in the Monastery of Saint Lazarus, Venice (see G. Caffiero and I. Samarine, Seas, Cities and Dreams; The Paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, Alexandria Press, London, 2000, plate 15). God emerges resplendently to part the dark clouds and calm the waters: 'And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.', Genesis 1;2.
  
  The success of the composition, both in the offered lot and in Chaos, is demonstrated by the fact that the latter was acquired by Pope Gregory XVI, and this great honour afforded Aivazovsky a vast amount of coverage in the press in Russia. The painting was later given by the Vatican to the Armenian Monastery of St. Lazarus in Venice.
  
  We are grateful to Ivan Samarine for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Auction Notices

• Please note that this item should be catalogued as 'Attributed to Aivazovsky'. Please note that the signature on this work has been added and is not contemporaneous with the painting. [Подпись добавлена позднее и не относится к периоду написания картины] Please note that the painting will not be featuring in the forthcoming monograph on Aivazovsky, contrary to what is stated in the catalogue.

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Category: Fine Art / Russian Art

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