This glory will not fail for centuries. The painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Conquest, conquest, annexation of Siberia - what was it? Was there an expansion or everything went relatively peacefully? Disputes among historians do not subside.

Promotion of Russians to the East

It included the gradual conquest of territories up to the Pacific Ocean and Kamchatka. Yermak's campaign in Siberia is a private episode. At the same time, the local population called the Russians Cossacks. The strongest resistance came from the Siberian Khanate and the Khanty tribes. Surikov's painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak" will tell about this.

The Stroganovs invited a small detachment of Yermak to the Kama to protect their possessions from the attacks of Voguls and wits. Several battles took place as the detachment advanced to the East, beyond the Urals. In the autumn, around 1581, Khan Kuchum gathered an army consisting of various Siberian tribes. There were nearly fifteen thousand of them. Ermak's detachment was much smaller, but part of the Khan's troops abandoned him, and he lost this battle. It is this skirmish at the confluence of the Tobol and the Irtysh that is depicted in the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak.”

Work on etudes and composition

The idea to write a historical canvas came to V. Surikov when he was at home inKrasnoyarsk in 1891. He worked a lot in Siberia, creating sketches and looking for types.

The work was carried out on the Ob and in Khakassia. Compositionally, the picture only seems to be divided by the river into two parts. If you look closely, you will clearly see a triangle created from Yermak's detachment, which cuts like a sharp wedge into the teeming mass of the Khan's troops. It is a sharp wedge that creates a special tension in the battle when the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” is carefully examined. On the banks of the Ob, a landscape without people was first drawn, which later, having found the types, Surikov would fill with a mass of troops. This is what the deserted beach originally looked like.

This will later be the painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak". In addition, the painter carefully worked as an ethnographer, creating authentic objects of ancient life on canvas: shields, bows, helmets, chain mail, clothes, boats and plows. All this served to create a historically correct atmosphere on the canvas. For a very long time, the artist was looking for the future image of Yermak. I found him on the Don, as well as the Cossacks.

No wonder the work was carried out for four years. Surikov studied historical records, songs about Yermak. All taken together, it formed into a battle work, known as the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak.”

Confrontation

On the left is a small Russian detachment. All warriors are tightly merged, they are united by one idea, the will to win. The expression on their faces leaves no room for doubtin their courage. One of the fighters has jumped out of the boat and is standing in the cold muddy clay water. He shoots, but if the gun fails, he has a saber, it breaks, then the ax that he stuck in his belt will come in handy.

Ermak's figure (painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak") is central. It is highlighted by the movement of the hand of the ataman of the Cossacks, which gives direction to his small detachment. The battle is in full swing. But the enemies, as can be seen in the background, can no longer withstand the tension and are ready to retreat, even their backs are visible. Some have already turned back. A little more - and the outcome of the battle will be decided.

Colour

Surikov chose a wonderful discreet color. “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” (painting) does not shine with bright colors, but shimmers with an amazing play of shades and writing. The artist delved into the life of each character, into every fold of his costume, into the brilliance of steel on trunks, swords and arrows. Everything is done in golden-brown tones, but Surikov's painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak" is gloomy and heavy. Temen is a harsh landscape of Siberia on an autumn day. The river rolls heavy clay brown waters. Presses the gray sky on the horsemen already running. But it is impossible not to notice the only figure of a Cossack, which the author of the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” highlighted with red cinnabar. The reflections of shots flicker, clouds of smoke from them. Everything is shown to the viewer alive, convex and reliable.

Offensive, overcoming obstacles, victory - everything was shown by Surikov in his canvas. The action takes place in Siberia, but it concerns Russia, because the Tatar Khan Kuchum has already approachedto the Urals and began to threaten the Volga region. For the artist himself, the topic was close because his ancestors came to Siberia and were the founders of Krasnoyarsk. This is how the past is reborn in the artist's work. It becomes part of the present, not a museum, but alive.