Ivan Aivazovsky

Reading notes

• To M. P. Chekhova, 14 July 1888. Feodosia. §5 Aivazovsky

  Ivan Aivazovsky, the celebrated marine painter, was a lifelong resident of Feodosia and a natural fixture of its local society; his appearance among the breakfast guests, named without further comment, reflects his standing as the town's most famous citizen.

• To the Chekhovs, 23 July 1888. Feodosia. §4 Aivazovsky

  Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900), the celebrated Russian marine painter, a lifelong resident of Feodosia; Chekhov gives a sharp, ambivalent character sketch of the old artist -- vain, self-satisfied, and boastful of acquaintances he never really had.

• To N. A. Leikin, 12 August 1888. Sumy. §3 Aivazovsky's estate

  Ivan Aivazovsky, the celebrated marine painter, was a lifelong resident of Feodosia; Chekhov drove out to his estate during his twelve days there with Suvorin.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 13 July 1891. Bogimovo. §4 the patriarch-catholicos Aivazyants

  A mock ecclesiastical title -- "patriarch-catholicos" evokes the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and "Aivazyants" Armenizes the surname with the "-yants" patronymic suffix -- almost certainly a joking jab at the marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky, an Armenian by descent and lifelong resident of Feodosia; not a real title or a distinct person.

• Notebooks. Diaries §4031 I. K. Aivazovsky

  Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900), the celebrated Russian marine painter, then in his late seventies and resident in Feodosia, where he mildly rebuked Chekhov for not having called on him earlier.