The riddle of the Cossack from Repin's painting about the Cossacks: Why did the artist depict him without clothes

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

“The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” is a monumental work and truly a masterpiece of the Russian artist Ilya Repin. The picture can be considered as a historical document: it reflects the story that the Zaporozhye Cossacks wrote a response to the demand of the Turkish Sultan to obey him. And, I must say, in their expressions they were not modest (the faces and laughter of the heroes prove this). An interesting detail: one hero of the picture is depicted without clothes.

About Master Repin

"The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan" is a painting by the Russian artist Ilya Repin. Canvas 2, 03 m by 3, 58 m was painted in 1891. Repin himself signed the years of work on the canvas at the bottom of the canvas. Subsequently, Alexander III acquired the painting for 35,000 rubles. By that time, this was the highest cost of Russian canvas. Repin was born into a poor family near Kharkov. Since childhood, he took icon painting lessons from the artist Bunakov, and in 1864 he became a student at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. In 1871 he received an academy scholarship that allowed him to travel to France and Italy. In 1894, Repin became a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy. Ilya Repin painted some of his best works in the 1880s, including The Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan, a monumental canvas that was not completed until 1891.

Background of the painting

Zaporozhye was the name of the military-political organization of the Ukrainian Cossacks and their autonomous territory (approximately 80 thousand square kilometers). Zaporozhye existed in the south of the country from the middle of the 16th century to 1775, when the army was officially abolished by Catherine the Great. In 1675, the Turkish Sultan Mohammed IV, according to sources, sent a threatening letter to the Zaporozhye Cossacks, advising them to surrender "voluntarily and without any resistance." In response, the Cossacks wrote a sarcastic letter promising to fight on land and on water. This curious message enjoyed considerable popularity in the 19th century. Although doubts about the authenticity of this event still exist.

The original historical document with the message has not survived. However, in the 1870s, an amateur ethnographer from Yekaterinoslav (now Dnieper) Y. Novitsky found a copy of a letter from the 18th century. He presented it to the historian Dmitry Yavornitsky (1855-1940), who read it to his guests, among whom was the artist Ilya Repin. Inspired by this story, Ilya Repin began work on the canvas. It is likely that Repin became aware of this in a historical case in Abramtsevo (not far from Moscow), where his patron Savva Mamontov lived and representatives of artistic circles (including Yavornitsky) were visiting. It was in Abramtsevo that the first sketch for the Zaporozhye Cossacks was created. For thirteen years he worked on the painting, studying the history and life of the Zaporozhye army, visiting Ukraine, researching folk legends and archival documents.

Heroes of the picture

During the times, the Cossacks were very popular among the population. Repin admired the Cossacks. In a letter to V. Stasov, Repin wrote: “Damn people! No one in the whole world has felt so deeply freedom, equality and brotherhood. Throughout its life, Zaporozhye remained free, did not obey anything!"

In the picture, the Zaporozhye Cossacks are sitting in groups at the table, some are standing. Being very cheerful and inspired, all the heroes try to tell their ideas and proposals to the scribe for a message to the Ottoman sovereign. They are obese male Cossacks. Repin's special skill in representing the Cossacks was noted a few years earlier by his longtime friend and colleague Ivan Kramskoy, who attributed this quality to the artist's Ukrainian temperament. Kramskoy suggested that, being a native Ukrainian, Repin had that special flair to draw something like this: “As for the current life, a person who has hahlack blood in his veins is most capable (because he understands this without effort) to portray a heavy, a strong and almost wild organism, and certainly not a cocotte."

The artist masterly conveys the freedom-loving spirit and vyvyvyvvyvsya impudent nature of the Cossacks, headed by ataman Ivan Sirko. All images of the heroes were based on specific people whom Repin met in Ukraine. Everything is depicted so emotionally and realistically that we can even hear various laughter emanating from the picture - an absolutely accurate reflection of the proud and independent nature of the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

Riddle about a Cossack without clothes

And now a riddle. Why is the only hero in the picture - a Cossack at the table - sitting up to his waist without clothes? The answer is literally at his fingertips - cards. He's a card player. Or, to be more precise, a banker. The one who deals the cards. To demonstrate his "purity" and honesty in front of the guests, he stripped to the waist.

For his work on the Zaporozhye Cossacks, the artist was awarded gold medals at international exhibitions in Munich and Budapest in 1895. The painting was acquired by Tsar Alexander III and hung in the Winter Palace until 1897. Later, Tsar Nicholas II donated it to the Russian Museum.

Cossacks have always been a special caste. Continuing the theme, a story about which of the Cossacks was allowed to wear long forelocks.