ROMAN KOCH / CRIMEAN MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY ISAAC LEVITAN

ISAAC LEVITAN (1860-1900)
The Roman-Koch (1,545 m - 5, 069 ft)
Ukraine (de jure) / Russia (de facto) 

From  In the Crimean Mountains, oil on canvas,  1886,  Tretyakov Gallery Moscow

The mountain
The Roman-Koch (1545m- ) or Mountain of the Romans is the highest peak of the Crimean mountain. Its name recalls the ancient Roman prefecture of the East of Cherson. This natural space is protected by the Crimean Nature Reserve. The Crimean Mountains form the Crimean extension of the Greater Caucasus. At its feet, along the Black Sea, lie the towns of Sevastopol, the largest port in Crimea, and Yalta, a seaside resort famous for agreements signed in 1945. Archaeologists have found the oldest anatomically modern human in Europe at the Buran-Kaya site in the Crimean Mountains. The fossils are 32,000 years old with artefacts related to Gravettian culture.

The painter
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н) was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Levitan's work was a profound response to the lyrical charm of the Russian landscape. Levitan did not paint urban landscapes; with the exception of the View of Simonov Monastery (whereabouts unknown), mentioned by Nesterov, the city of Moscow appears only in the painting Illumination of the Kremlin. During the late 1870s he often worked in the vicinity of Moscow, and created the special variant of the "landscape of mood"(see above), in which the shape and condition of nature are spiritualized, and become carriers of conditions of the human soul. During work in Ostankino, he painted fragments of the mansion’s house and park, but he was most fond of poetic places in the forest or modest countryside. Characteristic of his work is a hushed and nearly melancholic reverie amidst pastoral landscapes largely devoid of human presence. Fine examples of these qualities include The Vladimirka Road, 1892, Evening Bells, 1892, and Eternal Rest, 1894, all in the Tretyakov Gallery. Though his late work displayed familiarity with Impressionism, his palette was generally muted, and his tendencies were more naturalistic and poetic than optical or scientific. 

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

AYU DAG PAINTED BY IVAN AIVAZOVSKY

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY (1817-1900)

Ayu-Dag  (572 m -1,877 ft)

Crimea - Ukraine - Russia 

 In  Mount Ayu Dag, Crimea, 1865, oil on canvas,  National Gallery of Armenia

The Mountain 

Ayu-Dag (572 m -1,877 ft) is a summit of Crimea. It is also known under the Russified name Medved'-gora which means Bear mountain. The summit is located 16 km north-east from Yalta between the towns of Gurzuf (Hourzouf) and Partenit.  The mountain is a laccolith. Today its territory is a Nature reserve (5.5 km2). There is a pioneer children's camp Artek near Ayu-Dag (Medved' Mountain) which is well known internationally. The eastern slopes of Ayu-Dag lead to an ancient settlement Partenit. Remains of an early-medieval settlement and a number of churches were discovered here. In the 9th-10th centuries it was a well-known seaport, bound with cities of the Byzantine Empire. The western slopes lead to Artek.

The painter 

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Ива́н Константи́нович Айвазо́вский)  was a Russian Romantic painter. Despite he is considered one of the greatest marine artists in history, he painted a few mountains landscapes.  Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia and was mostly based in his native Crimea.  Following his education at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Aivazovsky traveled to Europe and lived briefly in Italy in the early 1840s. He then returned to Russia and was appointed the main painter of the Russian Navy. Aivazovsky had close ties with the military and political elite of the Russian Empire and often attended military maneuvers. He was sponsored by the state and was well-regarded during his lifetime. The saying "worthy of Aivazovsky's brush", popularized by Anton Chekhov, was used in Russia for "describing something ineffably lovely." One of the most prominent Russian artists of his time, Aivazovsky was also popular outside Russia. He held numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. During his almost 60-year career, he created around 6,000 paintings, making him one of the most prolific artists of his time. The vast majority of his works are seascapes, but he often depicted battle scenes, Armenian themes, and portraiture. Most of Aivazovsky's works are kept in Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian museums as well as private collections.

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