Scandalous story of one picture: did Ivan the Terrible kill his son?
Scandalous story of one picture: did Ivan the Terrible kill his son?

Video: Scandalous story of one picture: did Ivan the Terrible kill his son?

Video: Scandalous story of one picture: did Ivan the Terrible kill his son?
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Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885. Fragment
Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885. Fragment

One of the most famous, outstanding and, together with those controversial and scandalous works Ilya Repin is the picture "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" (other name - "Ivan the Terrible kills his son"). The first scandal erupted when the canvas was presented at an exhibition in 1885 - then Alexander III banned the public display of the painting. Since then, controversy around this work has not abated - does the picture have historical authenticity, or did Grozny still not kill his son?

Ilya Repin. Self-portraits 1878 and 1887
Ilya Repin. Self-portraits 1878 and 1887

Ilya Repin wrote this historical canvas based on one of the plots of the "History of the Russian State" by N. Karamzin. In turn, Karamzin relied on the testimony of the Jesuit Antonio Possevino. In his presentation, the tsar quarreled with his son because of the "impious behavior" of the prince's wife and in a fit of anger hit him in the temple with a staff. But Possevino himself was not an eyewitness to the events - he arrived in Moscow after the Tsarevich's funeral, and an Italian translator told him about the murder, who allegedly heard this version of events at court. As you can see, the source cannot be called reliable and reliable.

V. Schwartz. Ivan the Terrible at the body of his murdered son, 1864
V. Schwartz. Ivan the Terrible at the body of his murdered son, 1864

Some are convinced that Possevino's story is deliberate slander. He arrived in Moscow on behalf of the Polish king, with a demand to subordinate the Russian Church to the papal throne. Ivan the Terrible refused, after which slander appeared.

A. Litovchenko. Ivan the Terrible showing treasures to the English ambassador Horsey, 1875
A. Litovchenko. Ivan the Terrible showing treasures to the English ambassador Horsey, 1875

English diplomat D. Horsey, referring to his informants at court, claims that there really was a quarrel, but Grozny hit his son not in the temple, but in the ear. The prince did not die immediately - he fell into a nervous fever and died a few days later. But the fact is that the cause of the prince's illness was still the blow inflicted by his father.

V. Vasnetsov. Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 1879
V. Vasnetsov. Tsar Ivan the Terrible, 1879

Some historians say that the tsarevich died not in the Kremlin, but in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, a hundred miles from Moscow. He was there long before the events described, as he was ill for a long time, from which he died. According to one version, he was poisoned with mercuric chloride.

Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885. Fragment
Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885. Fragment

When Repin's painting was presented to the public at the 13th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions in 1885, a scandal ensued. The emperor, enraged by this interpretation of the tragedy in Russian history, banned the public display of the painting. The ban was later lifted, but the misadventures did not stop there.

N. Shustov. Ivan the Terrible at the body of his murdered son, 1860s
N. Shustov. Ivan the Terrible at the body of his murdered son, 1860s

In January 1913, the icon painter A. Balashov, suffering from a mental illness, threw himself on the canvas with a knife and cut it in three places. Repin and restorers quickly restored the painting.

G. Sedov. Tsar Ivan the Terrible admiring Vasilisa Melentyeva, 1875
G. Sedov. Tsar Ivan the Terrible admiring Vasilisa Melentyeva, 1875

In 2013, a scandal erupted again: a group of Orthodox activists came out with a statement that the Tretyakov Gallery has a number of canvases “containing slander against the Russian people, the Russian state, the pious Russian tsars and tsarins …, slanderous and false, both in its plot and in its pictorial reproduction of the painting by I. Repin "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581".

Ilya Repin. Self-portrait, 1923
Ilya Repin. Self-portrait, 1923

It is difficult to judge the historical events after so many years. The desire of many to get to the bottom of the truth and recreate the historical truth is quite understandable. However, in the heat of controversy, it is often forgotten that this is not a historical document, but a work of art, the author of which has the right both to his own interpretation of events and to fiction. Moreover, the picture has an indisputable aesthetic value - no matter what they say about the reliability of the sources, this work remains one of the most outstanding masterpieces of Ilya Repin.

Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885
Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885

And there are really legends about the cruelty of Ivan the Terrible. How people were betrayed to death in Russia: 5 most favorite methods of execution of Ivan the Terrible

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