The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich

The painting depicts the climax of the Siberian campaign of Yermak Timofeevich (1581-1585) - the battle of 1582 between the Cossack squad of Yermak and the huge army assembled by the Siberian Khan Kuchum . In the interpretation of the artist, this event is presented as a national feat, the artist emphasizes the inextricable connection of Russian soldiers with their leader ^[1] .

The composition is elongated diagonally. The vanguard of the Cossack army occupies the center and the lower half of the left side of the canvas. In the center of the Cossack mass is Yermak himself, depicted in profile, with his arm extended forward. This is a sturdy, solidly standing figure with both legs on the deck in a steel helmet. Over him and his comrades-in-arms develop banners with the face of the Savior and the equestrian figure of St. George (speaking of the first of these banners, V.S. Tatars ” ^[2] ). Ermak’s head, his pointing hand and a banner over him destroy the compositional diagonal, protruding beyond the space allotted to the Cossack army ^[3] .

Kuchum’s motley army fills the center and the lower part of the right half of the picture, panic can be seen on the faces of his soldiers ^[1] . The nose of the boat of Yermak crashes into the dense Tatar mass, emphasizing that she is already in turmoil and is ready to take flight. Behind the backs of the Siberian Tatars there is a steep bank with galloping horsemen and uplifting shamans , symbolically opposing equestrian St. George on a Cossack gonfalon. In the center of the upper part of the picture, the contours of the city come out for which there is a battle ^[3] .

The idea of ​​the canvas originated with Surikov in 1889, but he began work on the painting only in 1891 ^[2] . According to the artist’s own words, the general concept of the canvas developed before he even got acquainted with the historical events on which it was based ^{[1] [3]} :

On the back of the first known sketch for the painting is an inscription by the artist’s hand “Beyond the Volga on Kama ” ^[2] . Surikov wrote other early landscape sketches for paintings on the Ob , as well as in Tobolsk ^[3] . In the summer of 1891 in the Turukhansk Territory he painted sketches from Evenki and Ostyaks . By August, he had decided on the size of the canvas, in a letter to his brother, indicating them as “8 arshins and 4”, that is, approximately 5.6 × 2.8 meters ^[2] . In 1892 he went to the Don to collect characters for the images of Cossacks ^[3] , in the same year he lived in the Minusinsk Territory at the gold mines of IP Kuznetsov (in the territory of modern Khakassia ), from where he reported: “I am writing Tatars. Wrote a decent amount. Found a type for Ermak. ” On the Nemir River, Surikov painted an old shaman - the hand of a shaman with a stick, which he beats in a tambourine, did not fit on a sheet, and the artist painted it separately. In the ethnographic collection of the Minusinsk Museum, he made sketches from the clothes of the natives, decorated with beads and unusual patterns. In the Minusinsk Territory, one of the most successful sketches for the painting - “On the River” with the image of a shooter standing in the water ^[2] .

In 1893, in the village of Razdorskaya, Surikov did sketches from local Cossacks - Arseny Kovalev, Anton Tuzov, Makar Agarkov, later used in the painting ^[4] . It was the battery Arseniy Ivanovich Kovalev that served as the prototype for the final image of Ermak, and Makar Agarkov - for the image of Yesula Ivan Koltsa ^[5] . On the Don were created the images of the Cossacks Dmitry Sokol and Kuzma Zaporozhtseva, made a sketch of a large Cossack boat, then fell into the picture ^[2] . In the same year, the artist went to the north of Siberia - again to sketch the Ostyaks; in 1894, a new trip to Tobolsk and the Irtysh took place ^[3] .

In view of the large scale of the painting, Surikov had to change his Moscow apartment, where he moved from Krasnoyarsk in the fall of 1890, to a larger one. Only in December 1892, a break was made in the work on “The Conquest of Siberia”: Surikov needed to prepare the painting “Healing a Blindborn” for the exhibition. But already at the beginning of 1894 he wrote to his brother: “Now I again set to Yermak” ^[6] . The author spent a long time looking for the right color scheme - blue and yellowish-ash tones prevail in the early sketches, and when a steep coast appears in the picture, green spots bloom. Only gradually Surikov came to the final gloomy color. Ermak himself, too, only gradually "appeared" in the Cossack mass - in the early drafts he was blocked off by extra figures, then pushed to the background; in later versions, Ermak, on the contrary, is completely visible, separated from his army, and only after a long search did the artist determine the final place of the main character of the picture ^[2] .

“The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak Timofeevich” was completed in 1895 and became an important event of the 23rd exhibition of the Association of Wanderers . In March of the same year, the Council of the Academy of Arts awarded the author of the canvas the title of academician ^[1] . Although Surikov in Moscow agreed with P. M. Tretyakov on the sale of the “Conquest of Siberia” to him for 30 thousand rubles, Emperor Nicholas II , learning about this, said that “this painting should be national and be in the national museum”. The canvas was purchased by the emperor for 40 thousand rubles - according to Mikhail Nesterov , the largest amount for which paintings by Russian artists have ever been bought. Just a few weeks after this, in April 1895, a monarchial decree was signed on the establishment of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III ^[7] . Since 1897, “The Conquest of Siberia” exhibited in this museum; in the same hall as the main canvas, the sketch “Cossacks in a boat” ^{[1] is} exhibited. As a sign of respect to Tretyakov, Surikov in 1895 presented a small copy of the painting ^[8] (dimensions 103 × 59 cm ^[9] ).

Young guides spoke exclusively about “Conquering Siberia” ... The main idea was the same for everyone - Surikov wanted to show the people. He did not single out the role of leader. Ermak - not in the foreground, but in the center of the crowd. He does not stand out anything special, except for a hand stretched forward. In the foreground is a Cossack with an oar, a Cossack with a gun, a Cossack loading a gun, and in general the main thing is not a leader, but a people.

I note in parentheses that I had visited the Russian Museum earlier, about fifteen years ago, and I heard the guide explain: “Ermak is located in the center of the composition, which emphasizes his role as leader, chieftain, and commander. He stands under the banner, under the Holy Savior, not made by hands, and under George the Victorious. One feels how his will is cementing the attacking army. All the soldiers rallied around him and are ready to lay down their heads, but not to betray their chieftain. ”

- V. Soloukhin . Letters from the Russian Museum, 1966

• Gor Gennady Samoilovich , Petrov Vsevolod Nikolaevich . “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” // Surikov. - M .: Young Guard, 1955. - (The life of wonderful people).
• Voloshin M. A. “Ermak” // Surikov. - M .: Direct Media, 2012 .-- ISBN 9785446093793 .

• “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” on the portal “Virtual Russian Museum”
• Interactive view of the hall with the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” in the “Virtual Tour of the Russian Museum”
• Surikov V.I. Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. 1895 on the website of the State Russian Museum