I love the paintings from the Romantic period. "Our"
Caspar David Friedrich, of course, but the English school as well, above all
John Constable and
William Turner (
William Blake is too "mystical", vulgo: eerie, for my taste). I love the English
Pre-Raphaelites as well, even though they are, although influenced by it, not really part of the Romantic period anymore.
 |
| Self Portrait |
Now I came by chance across Ivan Aivazovski (1817-1900). He, was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. He was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in Crimea and was mostly based there. His genius becomes obvious in his masterly compositions of light and shadow, of light effects on water, moonlight or fire, often softened by mist or sea spray.
A primarily Romantic painter, Aivazovsky used some Realistic elements as well.
Aivazovskis paintings don't correspond, similar to those of Friedrich and different from the English Romantic landscapists, to the familiar image of Romantic painting as (merely) aesthetic expressionism. The nightmare is lurking everywhere.
 |
| Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Feodosia just before the Crimean War |
 |
| Fishing Boats in a Harbour |
 |
| Gunboat off Crete |
 |
| Moonpath |
 |
| Peter The First to Light a Watch Fire |
 |
| Pushkin at the Top of the Ai-Petri Mountain at Sunrise |
 |
| Windmill |
 |
| The Baptism of Armenians |
 |
| Moonlit Seascape with Shipwreck |
 |
The Ninth Wave
(Probably Aivazovski's best known painting.) |
 |
| Battle of Sinop |
 |
| Dante Shows an Artist Some Unusual Clouds |
 |
| Ca' d'Oro Palace in Venice by Moonlight |
 |
| Battle of Navarino |
 |
| Downpour in Sudak |
 |
| Exploding Ship |
 |
| Jesus Walks over Water |
 |
| Lunar Night |
 |
| Lunar Night at Spring |
 |
| Misty Morning in Italy |
 |
| Moonlit Night Near Yalta |
 |
| Sailing off the Coast of Crimea in a Moonlit Night |
 |
| Shipwreck |
 |
| Stormy Sea |
 |
| Tempest |
 |
| Wave |
 |
| Sunrise at Feodosia |
 |
| Wrath of the Seas |
 |
| View of the Lagoon of Venice |
 |
| Calm Sea |
 |
| Pushkin's Farewell to the Black Sea |
 |
| View from Livadia |
 |
| Landing at Subashi |
 |
| Darial Gorge |
 |
| Misty Morning |
And, to end it with a drumbeat:
 |
| Battle of Cesme at Night |
