The art collection of the Moscow Museum includes a painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, “View of Moscow from the Sparrow Hills”.

Ivan Aivazovsky (July 17 [29], 1817 — April 19 [May 2], 1900) was a Russian marine painter of Armenian origin, a collector, and a patron of the arts. The painter became world famous for his seascapes which constituted more than half of his works.

“View of Moscow from the Sparrow Hills” is a cityscape, a genre that is rather rare in the oeuvre of Ivan Aivazovsky. The high right riverbank offers a picturesque view that has appealed to many artists. From the Sparrow Hills, one could admire the bend of the Moskva River and the harmonious union of the city and nature. Nowadays, this painting offers a unique opportunity to see what the city looked like from that place before the large-scale construction of the main building of Moscow State University which began in 1949.

In the left part of the painting is the densely built-up left bank of the Moskva River. Up to the Novodevichy Convent, the low riverbank was occupied by wastelands, groves, meadows, and vegetable gardens. The artist depicted the Church of Our Lady of Tikhvin in Malye Luzhniki and the ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent, founded in 1524 in honor of the conquest of Smolensk. The convent housed many ladies from the court and royal families. Its main church, the five-domed Cathedral of Our Lady of Smolensk, can also be seen in this painting. Most of the Novodevichy Convent’s buildings were constructed in the late 17th century, during the reign of Princess Sophia. The architectural ensemble is united by the many-tiered bell tower. The square between the Khamovniki Barracks and the Moskva River had not been built up yet. The painter depicted long buildings of Moscow’s oldest barracks built by the architect Matvey Kazakov. The large white Kremlin rises on the horizon.

The painting entered the museum’s collection from Moscow’s Chief Architectural and Planning Administration in 1955.