The Road in the Forest

Aivazovsky is remembered almost entirely for the sea, so a quiet forest road like this one is a surprise from his hand. He painted it in 1857, an ox-cart moving along a track between tall trees, the light filtering down through the leaves the same careful way he usually caught it on water. He was at the height of his fame, by this time celebrated across Europe and one of the first Russian painters given the French Legion of Honour, and could paint almost anything he chose. Landscapes on dry land stayed rare for him all the same. The scene carries the warm, glowing air of his seascapes moved inland, the road running off into shade at the back.