Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  Private collection
  
  We are grateful to Gianni Caffiero for confirming the authenticity of the offered lot.
  
  Please note that this painting will feature in the forthcoming catalogue of the works of Aivazovsky being prepared by Gianni Caffiero and Ivan Samarine.
  
  Aivazovsky loved Constantinople and he returns to the subject over and over again, no doubt prompted by the many visits he made to the city in his lifetime. In 1845, he travelled there with Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaievich and Admiral Litke, in 1857 with his brother Gabriel, in 1867 with Empress Maria Alexandrovna, in 1874 at the invitation of Sultan Abdulaziz, and in 1890 in company of his second wife, probably the period during which he painted the present lot.
  
  The entrance to the Golden Horn was one of the finest natural harbours in the world and many artists flocked to draw and paint the historic shores of the Bosphorus. Aivazovsky captures the striking skyline of Constantinople with the soaring minarets and dramatic domes of the two mosques, the Süleymaniye and the Fatih Camii.

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Category: Fine Art / Russian Art

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