Viktor Vasnetsov: Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird on a Magic Carpet

Photo: Ivan Tsarevich and the Firebird on a Magic Carpet (1880), oil on canvas painting by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926), 165 × 297 cm, State Art Museum of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

The painting shows the popular Russian folklore hero Ivan Tsarevich along with the firebird travelling on a flying magic carpet along with the Firebird. The painting was created by the Russian revivalist movement artist Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926).

Ivan Tsarevich, one of the most popular heroes of Russian folklore, is often portrayed as the youngest of the three sons of a king or a peasant in different stories. As he has to be a superhero in each story, having no straightjacket character or origins, his personal history may vary in each story. But he is always shown fighting treacherous villains and finally winning the hands of his beloved Tsarina.

The name itself has two defining components; Ivan the commonest of the Russian names, and Tsarevich which means ‘the Tsar's son’. And he is sometimes attributed with magic powers. The antagonists also may be deathless characters having devilish powers. His friends may also have magical powers. His animal helpers can be a bird, a lion or a magical horse.

In one of the most popular folktales, ‘Prince Ivan, the Firebird and The Gray Wolf’, he was helped by a magical wolf as he captured the Firebird, after which he won the hand of the Tsarina.

Portrait of Grigori Rasputin by Klokachёva EN

Photo: Portrait drawing of Rasputin, signed and dated in 1914 by Elena Nikandrovna Klokacheva, colour pencils and pastel on grey card, 81.5 x 56 cm, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The history of fine arts has an interesting artist, Elena Nikandrovna Klokacheva, who is still remembered and taken seriously just for one of her many works. That is the drawing that you see above. It is one of the prized possessions of the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Klokacheva (also spelt as Klakachova and Klakacheva), was born on 25 November 1871 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. But historians are not sure about the date or year of her death excepting that it was ‘not before 1943’. This computation is based on the fact that Klokacheva had made charcoal portraits of some of the Spanish military physicians who were on assignment the Spanish Blue Division, participating in the Siege of Leningrad, had a field dressing station in Pavlovsk in 1942 and 1943. Their families still have two of the portraits in Spain.

And the value of this portrait of Rasputin by Elena Klokachёva may hit through the roof just because it is one of the few surviving portraits of Rasputin.

Perhaps no other historical figure from anywhere in the world have lived so long through various media as much as Grigori Rasputin since his death in 1916. Ever since then, till the present times, he has been appearing continuously as a popular character in dozens of films, books, TV productions, theater, comics, music and many more media.

Rasputin is reported to have prophetically said, “Without me everything will collapse”. And the outcome of the Bolshevik revolution proved he correctly predicted the future of Russia.

In yet another case, he is said to have predicted his own murder and warned in a letter written to the emperor Nicholas II that if the Russian nobles would do it, it would be the end of the monarchy. Just to prove he was right, following the February Revolution of 1917, the emperor and his family were imprisoned, and eventually executed by the Bolsheviks on the night of 16-17 July 1918.

A curious and interesting observation of life imitating art can be seen in the death of Bobby Farrell, the male member of the music band Boney M. One of the hit songs of the band is “Rasputin", loosely based on the life of the Russian mystic. Farrell had even dressed up as Rasputin in some of the stage performances of the song by Boney M. On 30 December 2010 Farrell died of heart failure in a hotel in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Reportedly, it occurred in the same city and on the same date in December as the death of Rasputin.

Skomorokhs in a Russian Village: Franz Nikolaevich Riss

Photo: Skomorokhs in a Russian Village (1857), painting by Franz Nikolaevich Riss

The painting by Francois Nicholas Riss (1804-1886), often referred to as Franz Nikolaevich Riss, depicts Skomorokhs performing in a Russian village street. It is a typical Russian village setting of the times with wooden and thatched roof houses, and the village folks of all age groups, from very young children to old men and women gathering to enjoy the show.

Born in Russia, Franz Nikolaevich Riss studied painting in Paris at Baron Antoine-Jean Gros and mainly painted portraits, including the famous portrait of Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada. In 1930s he returned to Russia and settled in Saint Petersburg.

The Skomorokhs were East Slavic street performers who were active in medieval times in Russia and many other Slavic nations. Their origin is documented to the 11th century, becoming very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. They had to face severe persecution from the orthodoxy, especially from the Russian Orthodox Church, and they had to disappear from the scene by the 18th century.

In fact, many of the folk traditions of many eastern regions from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent have influences of these folk performers. For instance, the evolution of the Russian puppet theatre drew directly the Skomorokhs.

As their repertoire included singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and composing and choreographing for their performances, they could draw crowds of hundreds that is remarkable for the era that had no advertising and marketing for such shows. Neither was there the electronic media of today’s times nor the elaborate stage settings to attract people.

The Skomorokhs were feared as the devil’s servants by the Orthodox Church that also discouraged folk art and popular culture which were considered irreverent and repelling people from God. As the rulers were either strongly influenced by the church or rather the rulers were ruled by the church, banning their shows was easy. A case in point is the ban order issued by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1657, which was influenced by the church.

The feudalists and the clergy were dead against Skomorokhi as their art occasionally included satire, masks and mock songs that were popular among the common people. These could be used against the elite that seem to be the refrain of the church that wanted to propagate ascetic living.

Yuri Annenkov: Adam and Eve

Public Domain Image: The picture shows a modern version of the Biblical characters Adam and Eve by the Russian artist Yuri Pavlovich Annenkov (1889-1974)

Yuri Annenkov, also known as Georges Annenkov, is mainly noted for his contributions to book illustrations, his design work for theatre and motion pictures and portraits.

Yuri Annenkov was an active member of Mir iskusstva (World of Art), a Russian artistic and literary movement that influenced and inspired Russians to revolutionize European art in the early 20th century.

Though he had worked in the studios of artists Felix Vallotton and Maurice Denis (1911-1912) in Paris, in 1913 he moved to Switzerland for work and a year later returned to St. Petersburg. In Russia, he mostly did magazine and book illustrations and worked for theatres.

Annenkov’s work as a book designer and illustrator brought him fame as he worked for great authors such as Maxim Gorky (Samovar, 1917), Alexander Blok (The Twelve, 1918), Mikhail Kuzmin, and Aleksey Remizov.

Annenkov was also commissioned by the Bolshevik government in Russia for designing and staging shows related to the Russian Revolution. The later part of his life was spent in Paris, where he died, working as an artist and a costume designer for motion pictures.

The Appearance of Christ before the People by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov

PD Photo: The Appearance of Christ before the People (Deutsch: Christus erscheint dem Volke / Русский: Явление Христа народу) oil on canvas painting (1837-57) by Russian Neoclassicist painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Ива́нов; 1806-1858), dimensions 540 cm x 750 cm, currently located at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, who adhered to the waning tradition of Neoclassicism, was a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, but spent most of his life in Rome. His magnum opus ‘The Appearance of Christ before the People’ took 20 years to complete (1837-57) because of which he has often been called the master of one work. Critical appraisal about Ivanov improved in the later generations, because numerous sketches he had prepared for his magnum opus have been recognized as masterpieces in their own right. Most of his works are on public display at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Arabian horse on 1968 Soviet Union postage stamp

PD Image: Arabian horse on postage stamp of value 6 Kopecks issued by the postal department of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1968

The Three Graces by Antonio Canova

Image: The Three Graces, sculpture by Antonio Canova, located at Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Rasputin among his admirers in 1914

The Tsar referred to Rasputin as ‘our friend’ and a ‘holy man’, and Rasputin had a considerable personal and political influence on Tsarina Alexandra, who believed that God spoke to her through Rasputin. Rasputin used to speak of salvation as depending less on the clergy and the church than on seeking the spirit of God within. He claimed that yielding to temptation (for him this meant sex and alcohol) was needed to proceed to repentance and salvation. During the years of World War I, Rasputin's drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and willingness to accept bribes in return for helping petitioners who flocked to his apartment, as well as his efforts to have his critics dismissed from their posts, made him cynical. Attaining divine grace through sin was one of the central secret doctrines which Rasputin preached to and practiced with his inner circle of high society ladies.

Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg

Photo: Church on Blood in Honor of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land in Yekaterinburg.

The Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land is a Russian Orthodox Church in Yekaterinburg constructed in 2000-2003 on the site where the former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Tsarina Alexandra, their children and other members of the household were all executed following the Bolshevik Revolution.

After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were taken prisoners. The Tsar and his family were initially kept at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo outside St. Petersburg. Kerensky, leader of the provisional government, moved them to the former Governor's mansion in Tobolsk, and later they were transferred to the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg.

As suspicion of a potential attempt to liberate the Royal family grew, the revolutionaries holding them captive, decided to execute them. On July 17, 1918 the entire imperial family consisting of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia were taken to the cellar of the Ipatiev House and executed.

The Ipatiev House was owned by a man named Nicholas Ipatiev. The Ural Soviet evacuated him and built high walls around the house, where on April 30, the imperial family was moved. In 1974, Ipatiev House was declared a National Monument, but three years later the Soviet government demolished the house, probably to prevent its attracting foreign visitors.

On September 20, 1990 the Sverdlovsk Soviet handed over the plot to the Russian Orthodox Church for construction of a memorial chapel. After the last Tsar's canonization, the Church planned to build a memorial dedicated to the Tsar family. Construction began in 2000, and the main church was consecrated by patriarchs from all over Russia on 16 June 2003, 85 years after the execution of the Tsar and his family.

The completed complex has two churches, a belfry, a patriarchal annex, and a museum dedicated to the Tsar’s family, covering 29,700 square feet area.

Engagement photo of Alexandra and Nicholas II

Official engagement photo of Alexandra and Nicholas II, April 1894

Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

Image: Portrait of Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna by Nikolai Kornilievich Bodarevsky, Tsarskoe Selo, Russia, 1907

Born Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein (6 June 1872 - 17 July 1918), was Empress Consort of Russia as the spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire. She was born a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and later given the name Alexandra Feodorovna on admission into the Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized her as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer in 2000.

Alexandra, the last Tsarina of Russia, was best-known as one of the most famous royal carriers of the haemophilia disease, as well as for her notorious friendship with the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, who was an important factor in her life.

The Provisional Government formed after the Russian revolution kept Alexandra, Nicholas II and their children confined in their primary residence, the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, until they were moved to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917. On 30 April 1918 they were transferred to the town of Yekaterinburg, where they were imprisoned in the two-story Ipatiev House. Alexandra and her family, including the seriously ill son Alexei, along with several family servants, were executed by firing and bayonets in the basement of the Ipatiev House early in the morning of 17 July 1918, by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky.

Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin

Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, often called the ‘Mad Monk’, is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, his wife the czarina Alexandra. He attracted the admiration and enmity of the Russian aristocracy and nobility in equal measures. Believed to be a psychic and faith healer by many Russians, it has been claimed that Rasputin caused to discredit the tsarist government of Russia, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. But contemporary views saw Rasputin in various hues: as a saintly mystic, visionary, holistic healer and prophet, or contrarily, as a debauched religious charlatan. His life and death has been the subject of much speculation and conspiracy theories, mostly based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend, including the theory that Rasputin died of a bullet fired by a British secret service agent, who was present at the scene of his murder, stage-managed by his Russian opponents. Popular culture is also much influenced by Rasputin, including various books, films, television episodes, music, etc. The music group Boney M released the semi-biographical song ‘Rasputin’ in 1978, which was a huge hit.