Born in 1817, the most celebrated son of Feodosiya and of its Armenian community, Ivan Ayvazovsky became the official painter of the Russian Navy, assigned with recording all of its victories and defeats on canvas. Mesmerised by the sea, he seemed obsessed with cataloguing all of its conditions. During his long and happy life Ayvazovsky produced thousands of paintings, which is why you can hardly find an ex-Soviet museum that doesn't own at least a couple of them.
