Top-Kahne Mosque

Nusretiye Mosque in Tophane, Istanbul

Иван Константинович Айвазовский (29 July 1817 — 2 May 1900)
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky

Baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian, he was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in Crimea (then Russia) and was mostly based there.

Aivazovsky - Self-portrait 1874

In the 1860s, the artist produced several paintings inspired by Greek nationalism and the Italian unification. In 1868, he once again visited Constantinople and produced a series of works about the Greek resistance to the Turks, during the Great Cretan Revolution. In 1868, Aivazovsky traveled in the Caucasus and visited the Russian part of Armenia for the first time. He painted several mountainous landscapes and in 1869 held an exhibition in Tiflis. Later in the year, he made a trip to Egypt and took part in the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal. He became the “first artist to paint the Suez Canal, thus marking an epoch-making event in the history of Europe, Africa and Asia.” ~Wikipedia

Aivazovsky was deeply affected by the Hamidian massacres that took place in the Armenian-inhabited areas of the Ottoman Empire between 1894 and 1896. He painted a number of works on the subject such as The Expulsion of the Turkish Ship, and The Armenian Massacres at Trebizond (1895). He threw the medals given to him by the Ottoman Sultan into the sea and told the Turkish consul in Feodosia: “Tell your bloodthirsty master that I’ve thrown away all the medals given to me, here are their ribbons, send it to him and if he wants, he can throw them into the seas painted by me.” He created several other paintings capturing the events, such as Lonely Ship and Night. Tragedy in the Sea of Marmara (1897). ~Wikipedia

Մահկանացու ծնեալ անմահ զիւրն յիշատակ եթող
Mahkanatsu tsneal anmah ziurn yishatak yetogh
He was born a mortal, left an immortal legacy. ~Wikipedia