A View of the Bosphorus from the European Side above the Palace of the Dolmabahe, the Seraglio Point on the Right

A Crimean by birth, Aivazovskii travelled to St Petersburg in 1833 where he enrolled at the Academy of Arts under M. N. Vorob'ev and F. Tanner. Exhibiting from 1835, he was awarded the title of 'Artist' in 1837 and in the following year he departed on a four year scholarship to Rome. During his travels he encountered J. M. W. Turner who, enchanted by the work of the young Russian, composed an Italian poem in his praise. Following his first visit to Constantinople in 1845, Aivazovskii was elected Professor of Painting at the St. Petersburg Academy in 1847. The present work dates from Aivazovskii's second visit to Constantinople in 1874-75.

The view adopted by Aivazovskii pays special attention in the middle distance to the palace of the Dolmabahe on the shore of the Bosphorus. The palace, situated on the site of the harbour from which Mehmet the Conqueror launched his attack on Constantinople in the 15th Century, was built between 1843 and 1856 at the behest of Sultan Abdl Mecid and was intended to replace Topkapi as the imperial residence of the Ottoman sultans. Its lavish interior includes a famous double staircase with crystal balusters and a massive four-ton chandelier in the throne room, a gift from Queen Victoria.