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Description: SIGNED AND DATED (MAKER'S MARKS)
signed in Latin l.r. and dated 1874

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Medium: oil on canvas

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Dimensions: 109 by 158cm., 43 by 62 in.

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Provenance: The Turkish Sale, Sotheby's London, 17th October 1997, lot 324

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Notes: In 1874, the date of the offered work, Aivasovsky exhibited his paintings in Florence and was obliged by the Florentine Academy of Arts to produce a self-portrait, which now hangs in the Pitti Palace. Later that year, on the journey home to Theodosia, Aivasovsky was invited by Sultan Abdülaziz to stop in Constantinople where he arrive in October 1874. The Sultan commissioned the artist to produce five pictures, which he was able to complete during his three weeks stay. Awarded the Order of Osmaniye (second-class) by the Sultan in November, Aivasovky was to complete more than twenty-five paintings for him the following year.