Exposition Art Blog: Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV Ilya Repin

Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV Ilya Repin

Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire, also known as Cossacks of Saporog Are Drafting a Manifesto (Russian: Запорожцы пишут письмо турецкому султану), is a painting by Russian artist Ilya Repin. The 2.03 m (6.66 ft) by 3.58 m (11.74 ft) canvas was started in 1880 and finished in 1891. Repin recorded the years of work along the lower edge of the canvas. Alexander III bought the painting for 35,000 rubles, at the time the greatest sum ever paid for a Russian painting. Since then, the canvas has been exhibited in the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. Vladimir Gilyarovsky, a popular journalist, was one of the models who 




 Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks depicts a supposedly historical tableau, set in 1676, and based on the legend of Cossacks sending a reply to an ultimatum of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV. The original reply has not survived; however, in the 1870s an amateur ethnographer from Yekaterinoslav (today Dnipropetrovsk), Ya. Novitsky, found a copy made in the 18th century. He gave it to historian Dmytro Yavornytsky (1855-1940), who by chance read it to his guests, among whom was the painter Ilya Repin. Repin became curious about the story and in 1880 started the first of his studies.Wikipedia

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