Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was born in Feodosia in Crimea in 1817. He came from an Armenian family and was also known by the Armenian form of his name, Hovhannes Aivazian. His childhood beside the Black Sea helped establish the lifelong fascination with the sea that would define his career.
Aivazovsky entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1833. He studied landscape painting under Maxim Vorobiev and also received training in battle painting. He completed his studies in 1839 with the Academy's large gold medal.
From 1840 to 1844 Aivazovsky traveled and worked in Italy as a pensioner of the Academy. He also visited other parts of Europe. His seascapes attracted considerable attention, and his reputation grew rapidly.
Aivazovsky became closely associated with the Russian navy and was appointed a painter of the Main Naval Staff. Naval battles, ships, storms, and shipwrecks became recurring subjects. Yet his marine paintings were not limited to documentary views. He frequently used the sea to explore light, movement, danger, and the power of nature.
In 1846 Aivazovsky settled permanently in his native Feodosia. He established an art studio there and played an important role in the cultural and civic development of the city. His success enabled him to support public projects and charitable causes.
Religious and biblical subjects formed a smaller but significant part of his enormous body of work. He painted icons for churches in Feodosia and returned repeatedly to episodes from Scripture. Biblical events involving water offered an especially natural meeting point between his religious subjects and his mastery of marine painting.
In 1880 Aivazovsky opened a public picture gallery in his Feodosia home. He later bequeathed the gallery and its contents to the city. He died in Feodosia in 1900. His career had lasted more than six decades, and he left thousands of works. His reputation remains centered on his seascapes, but his biblical paintings reveal an important religious dimension within his art.