Even in the earliest days of the Ottoman empire, Mehmed the Conqueror attracted artists and scholars to his court, becoming one of the principal Renaissance patrons of his t.mes . This cultivation of the arts continued throughout the centuries and by the 19th century, Sultan Abdul Aziz, himself an artist, was well known for his patronage of contemporary art and extensive collects ion of European paintings.

Aivazovsky arrived at Constantinople for the second t.mes in mid-1874, at the invitation of the Sultan. He received a commission to paint over thirty paintings for the Dolmabahce Palace. The present work dating from the 1860s belonged to Sultan Abdul Aziz's son, Şehzade (Prince) Yusuf Izzeddin (fig.1), and has remained in the collects ion of his descendants ever since. Another Aivazovsky painting from the same collects ion was sold at Replica Shoes 's London in November 2019 (fig.2).