This painting depicts the duel between the Turkish flagship Real Mustafa (84 guns) and Russian admiral Spiridov’s ship Svyatoy Evstafiy(68). During the boarding action the burning debris of the Turkish ship set the Russian flagship on fire and soon she blew up. The Russian admiral escaped the explosion just minutes before. Ten minutes later Real Mustafa exploded too. The Turkish squadron retreated to the Bay of Chesma only to be destroyed there in the next two days in what later to be called Battle of Chesma.
Ivan Aivazovsky was a Russian world-renowned painter living and working in Crimea, most famous for his seascapes, which constitute more than half of his paintings. Ivan Aivazovsky dedicated a number of his works to the Battle of the Chios Channel on the 24th of June 1770. This one was painted in 1848.
Thank you Polina for this lovely card.
