Articles & Texticles

This boy, sketched 137 years ago by Ilya Repin, can still pierce you with his gaze.

(Click the thumbnails to enlarge, please)

Ilya Repin was the boss.

Figure drawing?

Here’s some figure drawing for you:-

Update: The story behind the Cossacks picture.

It took Repin nearly eleven years to paint this huge picture. It measures 6′8″ x 11′9″, meaning the figures are life sized. It celebrates the outstandingly robust response to the Sultan of Turkey who suggested to the Cossacks that they should submit to his rule, back in 1676.

Here’s what the Sultan is reputed to have said to the Ukranian Cossacks in his letter:

As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the Sun and Moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of Christians—I command you, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks.

—Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV

To which the Cossacks immediately dashed off this witty reply: (NSFW)

O sultan, turkish devil and damned devil’s kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are you, that can’t slay a hedgehog with his naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. You will not, you son of a bitch, make subjects of Christian sons; we’ve no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck your mother.

You Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Armenian pig, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig’s snout, mare’s arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw your own mother!

So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won’t even be herding Christian pigs. Now we’ll conclude, for we don’t know the date and don’t own a calendar; the moon’s in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day’s the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!

Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host

… or words very close to that effect.

Repin painted a second version of the picture that now hangs in the Kharkiv Art Gallery, Ukraine.

To close: A quote from Tolstoy:

“I very much love . . . the Ukrainian vernacular language. It is so melodious, colourful and gentle to the ear.”

Links: Wikipedia
Artcyclopedia
High resolution version of the Cossacks painting.