He travelled throughout southern Russia from 1804, primarily creating idealized watercolour of rural towns and landscapes. The beauty of the area around Lake Baikal especially captivated him, it is surrounded by the Sayan Mountains, whose endless chain and picture-like diversity bring to the traveller's gaze the infectious grandeur of nature. His works of art is comparable to the present pair in its idealised panoramic vision of nature, with its vast expanses of water and sky. Like View of Irkutsk, Martynov's Irkutsk, focuses more on the surrounding landscape than the city itself. These very Classical compositions are entirely devoted to the celebration of the beauty of nature. In 1805 he was the official artist of the Russian embassy to China by Earl A. Golovkin.