We all know the painting “Cossacks” by Ilya Repin since childhood. This immense canvas measuring two by three and a half meters is the pearl of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. The image is full of many details and a character in the foreground particularly attracts attention. Why is everyone wearing warm clothes and sitting around shirtless? The solution is waiting for you, keep reading quickly.
Repin created the painting for 13 years, meticulously working on every nuance. The idea of the work was based on a historical fact – at the end of the 17th century, the Cossacks of the Zaporozhye leader Ivan Serko wrote an angry, incorrect and hilarious response to the ultimatum of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, who demanded their submission. That is why Ilya Repin’s painting is often called “Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan.”
“The courageous forces of the Russian people renounced the blessings of the world and founded an equal brotherhood to defend their best principles of the Orthodox faith and human personality… And this handful of daredevils, of course the most gifted with their time, thanks to this the spirit of reason (this is the intelligentsia of their time, they are largely educated) is strengthened to the point that it not only protects Europe… but even threatens their civilization then strong and heartily mocks their… arrogance, ” excited said Repin in a letter to his friend Ivan Leskov.
