The capture of Turkish nave on Black sea 1877

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky created this painting of the capture of a Turkish ship on the Black Sea with oil. Born in the Russian Empire, Aivazovsky was the foremost Armenian marine painter of his day. His depictions of naval conflicts offered heroic visions of Russian military power during a period of imperial expansion. This painting likely depicts an episode from the Crimean War. We can read it as a piece of nationalist propaganda, or a visual record of a particular historical event. The imagery may romanticize the brutality of naval warfare, but in doing so, the painting also reveals the political function of art. As art historians, we research such images to understand the complex and ever-changing relationship between aesthetics, politics, and social life.