Interesting tidbit, this painting was one of the required pieces of Soviet school in late USSR, I think in grade 4 or 5 in the Russian language curriculum. We were assigned this painting - and a few others over the school year - as a topic of essay, where you had to describe what was depicted and its meaning to you and your country. The minimal accepted size of essay was 3 pages, I believe.
I remember doing a very careful study of all the fine details on the jackets and various arms that cossacks had in the painting reproduction that I happened to have in some nicer book, the schoolbook picture was too tiny to really appreciate.
I remember doing a very careful study of all the fine details on the jackets and various arms that cossacks had in the painting reproduction that I happened to have in some nicer book, the schoolbook picture was too tiny to really appreciate.
Another Ilya Repin picture that was assigned as that kind of essay target was Barge Haulers on the Volga (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge_Haulers_on_the_Volga)