Painting Aivazovsky "Chesme battle": a multiple description of the artist's canvas

I.K. Aivazovsky is an outstanding Russian maritime painter, collector, philanthropist. His paintings are rightfully considered masterpieces, and the author himself is famous not only in Russia, but also abroad. The artist was a member of several European academies, which is the best proof of his recognition of his work abroad.

general description of work

At the beginning of his career, Aivazovsky was strongly influenced by the famous Russian painter KP Briullov. The paintings of the latter had a strong impression on the young and novice master that he at first simply imitated him.

"Chesme battle" - a picture of Aivazovsky, whose creation story is closely related to the early stage of his work, is the best evidence of this. In this monumental and large-scale canvas the painter embodied the best principles of his teacher: the courage and grandiosity of the idea, the brightness and vividness of the image, the sublime style of images. Following the principles of romanticism, the author did not skimp on dramatic colors.

Features of the cloth

Painting Aivazovsky "Chesme battle" demonstrates the best achievements of painting in the genre of romanticism. The fact is that at this time a young and talented artist worked under the influence of the era. In order to emphasize the majesty of the victory of the Russian fleet, he went even to some deviations from historical reality, somewhat shifting the position of the ships. The artist primarily focused on the image of the fire, which, despite the tragedy of the situation, gives the canvas a major tone.

Painting Ayvazovsky "Chesme battle" - one of the first major works of the author in the genre of sea battle painting. The artist did not set out to reproduce the battlefield with documentary accuracy, because before this it was already made by the German painter Ya.F. Hakkert by special order of Catherine II. This author drew the location of all the ships and fleets of the belligerents in a strict order, based on documentary evidence, memoirs, and data from ship logs.

Therefore, Aivazovsky decided to depart somewhat from the realities of the event. Taking as a basis the work of his predecessor and carefully working with documentary materials, he created his own original canvas, which glorified the victory of the Russian fleet. It was quite in the spirit of his time, when the romantic direction in the domestic art was dominant.

Historical plot

One of the main battles of the Russo-Turkish war was the Chesme battle. Aivazovsky, whose painting is devoted to this important event of the XVIII century, chose this object for his canvas for two reasons. Firstly, this victory clearly demonstrated the increased power of the Russian fleet, and, secondly, there were many documents, memories, and most importantly - there already existed a similar work by a German artist, which influenced the author.

In addition, this battle has produced a resonance in Russian society. The well-known dispatch of Count Orlov, in which he reported on the victory, went hand in hand. Of course, such a historical fact could not help attracting the attention of such a famous seascapes as Aivazovsky, who was an artist of the Main Naval Staff.

Description

The painting by Aivazovsky "The Chesma Battle" was written in 1848. As already mentioned above, this was an early period in the artist's work. The main element of the work is a fire, which gives the impression of a terrible, but at the same time spectacular fireworks. The artist purposely made the outlines of the ships somewhat vague, so that the viewer would not be distracted from the basic design of the work. All attention should have been focused precisely on this powerful fire stream, which soared upward.

As you know, representatives of Romanticism very often played on the contrasts, thereby to further enhance the impression of what is happening. Aivazovsky was no exception. In contrast to the glowing sea, which seems to merge with the night sky, a light yellow moon peeps out from behind the clouds. She throws the dim rays down. They slightly shade the brightness of the terrible battle. Painting Aivazovsky "Chesme battle" depicts in the background people's figures, which, apparently, threw a shock wave overboard the ships at sea. The dramatism of what is happening is intensifying: the viewer, looking at the picture, realizes that they can not do without help, and yet this very help will be very difficult for them to receive in view of the catastrophe that occurred.

The meaning of the picture in the artist's work

"Chesme battle" - a picture of Aivazovsky, the description of which was devoted to this article, occupies a prominent place in the gallery of his canvases. It is, as it were, an intermediate link between his romantic hobbies and the transition to monumental battle painting. It outlined the principles of depicting sea battles: colorful combat reproduction, special attention to the image of the watery surface that merges with the sky, as well as the use of bright, saturated colors.