The artist is Aivazovsky
May 18, 1846 in Feodosia, an exhibition was held, at which a picture was presented "Sevastopol before noon during the highest arrival there" (Aivazovsky. Documents and materials. Yerevan, 1967, with. 328). It was also exhibited at the IAX; written in the period from January to May 1846 in Crimea. Judging by the fact that in the center of the canvas there is a yacht with the raised imperial standard, the people greeting the emperor are crowding on the shore, and the ships of the Black Sea Fleet were lined up in front of the yacht, the picture belonging to the timing, and there is the one that was ordered by the artist Nicholas I I I.
Nothing in this picture still portends the tragic fate of Sevastopol – the Black Sea pearl of the Russian crown – and the Russian fleet in the upcoming Crimean war of 1853–1856. Ships depicted in the picture, including the flagship of the Black Sea Sailing Russian Fleet, a battleship 130-gun ship "Twelve apostles", launched in 1841., were flooded at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay in 1854., In order to prevent the ships of the Franco-Anglo-Turkish fleet in it and thus protect Sevastopol from the sea. The picture also captures the abolitioned ritual of sailors later: to stand on the mast during the raid, observing equalization.
With a ship "Twelve apostles" Aivazovsky has one of the most striking memories of this period: to the mentioned exhibition of Aivazovsky’s works (in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of artistic activity and returning to his hometown) to Feodosia from Sevastopol with congratulations was a detachment of five military sailing ships led by the head of "Twelve apostles" under the command then still captain of the first rank in. Kornilova to congratulate the young artist on behalf of the Black Sea sailors.
