Short answers, pulled from the story.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky entered the world on the 29th of July 1817 in the Black Sea port of Feodosia. His baptismal records at St. Sargis Armenian Apostolic Church listed him as Hovhannes, son of Gevorg Aivazian.
Aivazovsky produced around 6,000 paintings during his nearly 60-year career according to one count as many as 20,000 are attributed to him. The vast majority of his works depict the sea though he rarely drew dry-landscapes or created portraits.
Upon returning to Russia Aivazovsky became an academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts and was appointed the official artist of the Russian Navy to paint seascapes coastal scenes and naval battles. He received the title of professor of seascape painting from the Imperial Academy of Arts by 1847.
The artist's longstanding wish to visit his ancestral homeland was fulfilled in 1868 when he traveled to Russian Armenia. He created paintings of Mount Ararat the Ararat plain and Lake Sevan during this trip.
Ivan Aivazovsky founded construction of a new Museum of Antiquities on Mount Mitridat modeled after a typical Ancient Greek temple of the Doric order in 1871. This museum was destroyed during World War II.