Art Chowder January | February 2018, Issue 13 | Page 37

T
his depiction of a now bygone
world falls somewhat into the same
category as the paintings of French
peasant life by Jules Breton and
others, which were also starting to
fade away. But this procession is
marked by extreme class distinctions
that the artist has taken pains to point
out.
Repin was also a masterful portrait
artist, painting many members of
the intelligentsia of the day. His
consummate mastery of character
and expression can be seen in his
The Zaporozhye Cossacks Replying
to the Sultan (1880-1891), a subject
drawn from the perhaps apocryphal
story set in 1676 that involved an
exchange of letters between the Sultan
of the Ottoman Empire and members
Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
Leo Tolstoy Barefoot
1901
oil on canvas
81.5 x 21.74”
Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
The Zaporozhye Cossacks Replying to the Sultan
1878-1891
oil on canvas
85.4 x 142.1”
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
of a Ukrainian ethnic group that
had been giving the Ottoman Turks
trouble in battle. Sultan Mehmed IV
had demanded that the Cossacks stop
their antics and submit to Ottoman
rule, identifying himself with words
like, “the Sultan; son of Muhammad;
brother of the sun and moon; grandson
and viceroy of God; etc.” it was a
kind of high sounding cease-and-
desist letter. The fiercely independent
Cossacks are portrayed in the process
of answering the Sultan with the most
raunchy and insulting mimicry they
could come up with. While there is no
solid evidence that the episode is true,
the rendering of the personalities in
the group is brilliant. Tsar Alexander
III bought the huge canvas for an
astronomically record sum.
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
January | February 2018
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