Souvenir de Constantinople

Aivazovsky captured the Ottoman capital across multiple visits spanning decades. He first traveled to Constantinople in 1845 as part of a naval expedition. The city's dramatic silhouette of minarets and domes against the Bosphorus's shimmering waters became a lifelong subject.

Renowned for his ability to render light on water with extraordinary luminosity, Aivazovsky typically depicted the city from across the water, bathed in sunset glow or moonlight.

As official painter of the Russian Navy, Aivazovsky produced over six thousand paintings. His Constantinople works combine mastery of marine painting with orientalist fascination for the East-West meeting point.