The main characters in the picture are not archers and not Peter. Description of the painting "Morning of the Strelets' execution"

The painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" by Vasily Surikov confuses the unprepared viewer. What is depicted here? It is clear that the tragedy of the people: the general intensity of passions does not give rise to doubt about it. Also in the picture you can see - and recognize - Tsar Peter the Great. The Russian viewer is probably aware of an episode from Russian history when the Moscow rifle regiments, taking advantage of the sovereign's stay abroad, revolted. But what pushed them to this riot? And what did the artist want to say with his painting? Indeed, despite the gloomy name, not a single person hanged or beheaded is visible in the picture. Let's try to figure it out.

Official version of events

Sister of Peter the Great, Sofya Alekseevna, imprisoned in never abandoned hopes of sitting on the royal throne of Russia. Taking advantage of her brother's absence, she announced that Peter had been replaced. She urged the Streltsy to come to her aid and protect Russia from the invasion of the Gentiles (that is, European administrators who were invited by the tsar from Germany and Holland). 175 soldiers from four regiments responded to her call. They arrived in Moscow with a petition in March 1698. In early April, they were driven out of Moscow, but they returned to their regiments and revolted. His goal was to elevate Sophia to the throne, and if she renounces the kingdom - exiled V.V. Golitsyn. The government sent four regiments and noble cavalry against the two thousand insurgents. In June, the riot was suppressed, and "the worst ringleaders" were hanged. Describing the morning of the streltsy execution, Surikov takes the official version as a basis. That is, an act of justice that took place on June 22 or 28, 1698. Then, according to the chronicles, fifty-six people were hanged.

Morning of the Streltsy Execution: History

In fact, massive repressions began when Peter the Great returned to Russia (August 25, 1698). The Tsar initiated and led a re-investigation. The real morning of the streltsy execution, described by the shocked diplomats of the time, took place on October 10. Then about two thousand archers were hanged and beheaded. The king personally cut off the heads of five of them. He did not have mercy on anyone, did not look at either gender or age. He ordered two of his sisters' maids to be buried alive in the ground. Those 500 archers who were too young were freed from the king, but their nostrils and ears were cut off, they were branded and sent into exile. The repressions continued until the spring of 1699. The tsar, who was considered an admirer of European values, allowed to bury the executed only in February.

The history of painting the canvas

So what does the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution", which is on display at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, want to tell the viewer? This is the first large canvas by Vasily Surikov, which he put up for the audience. He worked on it for three years - from 1878 to 1881. Why did the artist turn to the topic of Russian history? Probably, his stay in ancient Moscow, where he moved after graduation, had an effect. They say that at first the artist wanted to depict several hanged men on canvas. He even drew sketches. But one of the maids in the house, seeing them, fainted. Therefore, Surikov abandoned the idea to shock the viewer. But the tragedy of the foreboding of execution keeps us in constant tension. This feeling is stronger than witnessing bloody scenes. The painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" liked the collector Tretyakov. He immediately acquired it. And later he added to the collection two more works of the master on historical themes - "Boyarynya Morozova" and "Menshikov in Berezovo".

Composition

This is a large canvas (379 x 218 centimeters), made in oil. The painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution" is sustained in a dark color, which further emphasizes the tragedy and gloom of the moment. The artist resorted to an interesting technique in building a composition. He has reduced the distance between objects in Red Square. The picture immediately fits the Kremlin tower with a wall, and thus, only a few dozen characters create the feeling of a huge crowd symbolizing the Russian people. It is important that the figure of the king is in the background. To make the autocrat visible, the artist depicted him on horseback. Peter the Great leads a "duel with a glance" with one of the archers, who did not break down under the yoke of repression. The king understands that he has no power over the proud spirit of the people, and his revenge remains unquenchable.

Coloristics

For the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution" Surikov used a rich palette. An early autumn morning after a rainy night, when fog still hangs over the square, serves as a gray background, against which the white shirts of the condemned archers and the candle lights in their hands appear all the more clearly. A bright spot that attracts the eyes of the audience is the Sagittarius with red hair. Although his hands are tied and his legs are shackled, it is clear that his spirit is not broken. This symbolizes the high-flying flame of a candle, which he squeezes in his palm. White shirts and a gray background soften the bright clothes of the inhabitants of those times. The red kerchief of a little girl and the golden-woven caftan of the streltsy's wife take the viewer's gaze to the grieving people.

Symbolism

In the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution", the artist laid a certain code, which is not understandable to everyone. First, it is the number "7". That is how many archers are depicted on the canvas (one of them has already been taken away to execute - only his burning candle remained - as a symbol of his eternal soul). The seven chapters of the cathedral are also visible.The architectural background of the canvas also carries a hidden meaning. The austere Kremlin tower corresponds to the figure of Tsar Peter the Great, while the bright, colorful heads of the church symbolize the aspirations of the Orthodox Russian people, whose ideas were expressed by the executed archers.

Here, in the ancient capital of the Russian state, Surikov found, according to him, his true vocation - the vocation of a historical painter. “When I arrived in Moscow, I was directly saved,” he later recalled. “The old yeast, as Tolstoy said, has risen! Monuments, squares - they gave me the environment in which I could put my Siberian impressions ...

What were these "Siberian impressions", the significance of which Surikov spoke about for himself more than once? A native of Krasnoyarsk, who lived without a break in this city until he was twenty, Surikov said that Siberia, modern to his youth, kept many vestiges of antiquity in folk life, manners and customs. Siberians did not know serfdom, and this, in turn, left a certain imprint on their characters and attitude to life. "The ideals of historical types have been brought up in me by Siberia since childhood, it also gave me spirit, and strength, and health," Surikov wrote in his old age. He was attracted by powerful people, free, courageous, strong in spirit and body, people of mighty will, brave, rebellious, unbending, firmly standing for their convictions, people who are not afraid of either prison or torture, ready to go to death if required from them fulfillment of duty. Surikov loved the Russian people "ardent in heart", more than once proudly repeating a popular saying about his fellow countrymen: "Krasnoyars are yaras in their hearts." He sought and knew how to find such Russian people in contemporary life; he found them in the past of his native country.

Surikov was formed as an artist in the seventies of the XIX century, during the period of democratic upsurge; he created his works during the period of reaction in the eighties and nineties, in conditions of severe social oppression, which gave rise to a passionate popular protest. The artist's heightened perception of social reality and the struggle that took place in it determined the depth, intensity and strength of the experiences of the heroes of his historical folk dramas.

These features of Surikov's work were clearly reflected in his first large historical canvas on the theme of the Russian past - the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution".

In this work, Surikov turned to a turning point in Russian history - the era of Peter I... We know that the historically progressive transformations of Peter were achieved at a high cost - the suffering and blood of the masses, the incredible intensification of social oppression, which provoked a heated protest. Therefore, "the beginning of Peter's bright days was darkened by rebellions and executions."

It is quite natural that Peter's progressive reforms evoked decisive opposition primarily from historically doomed social groups.

The Streltsy (the old pre-Petrine army, which Peter I replaced with a regular army), infringed in their own interests, rebelled several times. In 1698, the last streltsy revolt, reactionary in its goals (Peter's elder sister Princess Sophia tried to take advantage of it to seize the throne), was brutally suppressed.

Taking the execution of the archers as the subject of his painting, Surikov did not show, however, the execution itself. It was not his intention to amaze the viewer with bloody horrors. His task was immeasurably deeper and more significant - he strove to read a page of the long history of Russia as a tragic narration about the fate of the people at the moment of a sharp historical turning point.

Moscow. The Red Square. Near the Execution Ground, against the background of the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, the archers brought to the place of execution settled down. In white shirts, with funeral candles in their hands, they prepared for death.

The last minutes before the inevitable execution, which will now begin ... The first convict has already been taken to the gallows.

The artist revealed the terrible drama of the Streltsy, focusing primarily on their state of mind, on how each of the condemned survives his last dying moment, showing the despair and powerless tears of those who say goodbye to them, seeing them off on their last journey.

On the left is a red-bearded archer in a red crooked cap, his hands are tied, his legs are hammered into the shoes, but he did not submit. Like a knife, with which he is ready to throw himself at the enemy, he squeezes a candle with a flaming tongue of flame. With fierce anger, he fixed his gaze on Peter, who was sitting on a horse near the Kremlin walls. Peter, full of consciousness of his righteousness, responds with the same angry and irreconcilable look to the archers.

Gloomily, sullenly, with the gaze of a hunted beast, a black-bearded archer in a red caftan thrown over his shoulders looks around, deeply harboring the anger of the rebellious rebel.

The horror of the impending execution clouded the consciousness of the gray-haired archer: his gaze is mad, he does not see the children who have fallen to him; he unclenched the hand from which the soldier grabs the candle.

The archer standing on the cart bent humbly, saying goodbye to the people; his almost lifeless body and, as it were, a broken head, seem to portend the fate awaiting him.

The head fell heavily on the chest, the arms of that archer, whom the soldiers were dragging to the gallows, dropped helplessly; unnecessary caftan and cap are thrown to the ground, the wick of a candle that has fallen from his hands is smoldering; the candle went out - life was cut short.

A cry of despair bursts from the chest of a young streltsy wife; the boy, throwing up his hands, pressed himself against his mother and hid his face in the folds of her clothes. Not far off, an old woman, probably the mother of one of the archers, sat down heavily on the ground; dark, earthy shadows lay on her face, emaciated by suffering.

Beside her, a little girl in fear gripped her hand in a fist, screams. Her red handkerchief stands out among the dark crowd, just as her sonorous childish voice stood out among the merging rumble of the square.

But not only by revealing the state of mind of the depicted, not only by the expressiveness of their faces and figures, Surikov achieves the impression of a deep tragedy of the scene.

This is served by the heavy dark coloring of the picture, justified by the very choice of the moment: early morning after a rainy autumn night, when the east only brightened, when the cold purple fog had not yet dispersed over the square. In the morning twilight, among the dark crowd, the white shirts of the convicts stand out; the flickering lights of lighted candles cast alarming reflections on them ...

In the painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" Surikov fully demonstrated his gift as a master of composition. He managed to create the impression that a huge crowd of people, full of life and movement, was concentrated on his canvas. Meanwhile, there are only a few dozen characters here; Surikov, however, like a brilliant director, filled the vast Red Square with them. In particular, he achieved this by a compositional technique of convergence of plans, reducing the distance between the Execution Ground, the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed and the Kremlin walls.

The creation of the picture was preceded by a lot of preparatory work.

“I still decided to paint Streltsov in St. Petersburg,” says the artist himself. “I thought about them when I was traveling to St. Petersburg from Siberia. It seemed to me bloody ... How I came to Red Square - all this connected me with Siberian memories ... When I conceived them, all my faces immediately appeared ... this is Stepan Fedorovich Torgoshin, my mother's brother. And women are, you know, I had such old women in my family. Sundresses, though Cossacks. And the old man in "Streltsy" is one exiled one, about seventy years old. he carried a sack, swayed with weakness - and bowed to the people. And the red-haired archer is a gravedigger, I saw him at the cemetery. I told him: “Come to me - pose.” He had already lifted his leg into the sleigh, but his comrades began to laugh. says: “I don’t want to.” And by nature, after all, he is like a sagittarius. The deep-seated eyes struck me. Angry, restless nny type. The name was Kuzma. Randomness: runs to the catcher and the beast. Forcefully persuaded him. As he posed, he asked: "What, will they chop my head off, or what?" And my sense of delicacy stopped me from telling those with whom I wrote that I was writing an execution.

And the arcs, carts for "Streltsov" - I wrote about the markets ... There is dirt on the wheels. Previously, Moscow was unpaved - the mud was black. In some places it will stick, and next to it pure iron shines with silver ... He loved beauty everywhere. "

So, the main material was given to the artist by life, close observation, greedy and deep study of it.

An invaluable help to Surikov was provided by a wonderful visual memory, which clearly fixed in his mind the memories of his youth and even childhood. So it was during the creation of "Streltsov". “I saw the death penalty twice. Once three men were executed for arson. One tall guy was like Chaliapin, the other was an old man. They were brought in on carts in white shirts.

Finally, Surikov seriously studied historical sources, objects of material culture, and written monuments. "I painted Peter from a portrait of a trip abroad," he said, "and I took the costume from Korb."

Indeed, if you look into the "Diary of a Journey to Muscovy" by the secretary of the Austrian ambassador I. Korb, it is easy to see how attentively Surikov was about what this observant foreigner, who witnessed the streltsy executions, narrates.

Much of what Korb describes was creatively recreated by Surikov in his painting. "... On small Moscow carts, a hundred guilty persons were seated, awaiting their turn for execution," writes Korb. held in his hands a lighted wax candle so as not to die without light and a cross ... The bitter crying of their wives intensified their fear of impending death ... the mother sobbed for her son, the daughter mourned the fate of her father, the unhappy wife moaned about the fate of her husband ... His tsarist majesty in a green Polish caftan, accompanied by many noble Muscovites, arrived at the gate, where, by order of his tsarist majesty, the Cesar's ambassador with representatives of Poland and Denmark stopped in his own carriage. "

However, Surikov did not follow this source in everything. This is evident at least from the fact that Korb describes the execution that took place on October 10, 1698 in the village of Preobrazhenskoye on the Yauza River; the artist changes the scene and transfers it to Red Square. Surikov needed a specific historical setting, and in the village of Preobrazhenskoye it did not survive. And the event itself, transferred to Red Square and depicted against the background of St. Basil's Cathedral and the ancient Kremlin walls, acquired not only great historical credibility, but also special significance.

Talking about the creation of his first large historical canvas on a theme from the Russian past, Surikov once mentioned how the title of the painting was born: "" Morning of the Strelets' executions "well ... someone called it".

It seems that it is no coincidence that in this case Surikov used the plural - "streltsy executions": here, as it were, is an indication of the possibility of a broader interpretation of the picture, its content, and its entire historical concept. A close examination of the picture leads to the same conclusion.

Surikov was interested in not this rebellion of the archers in itself, not this particular clash between the archers and Peter. The artist strove to reveal in his painting the main contradictions of the Petrine era.

Surikov understood the progressive role of Peter I and showed great interest in his personality, for which we have a lot of evidence. But the artist's attention has always been the life of the people, the fate of the people.

Surikov also decided the painting The Morning of the Streltsy Execution as a folk drama. Everything in this picture leads to the idea that the artist undoubtedly brought the archers closer to the people, and to a greater extent than this can be historically justified.

We know that it is impossible to equate the archers and the people, we know that the Streltsy revolt of 1698 was not a popular revolt. We can only say that the archers sometimes met with sympathy among the people, but only to the extent that they rebelled against foreign countries and against state power, which intensified the landlord's oppression. It is also known that ordinary archers more than once joined popular movements in the second half of the 17th century.

It is characteristic that Surikov showed just ordinary archers, internally bringing them closer to those archers who opened the gates of the Volga cities to Stepan Razin and followed him, joining the mighty peasant uprising. Surikov, obviously, saw in his archers, in their wives, mothers and children.

The great Russian artist thought about the people, about their strength, about their anger and suffering in a complex, full of contradictions, a turning point in Russian history, creating his picture. And this was the main content of "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution".

Painting of Russian artists
Painting by Vasily Surikov "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution". Oil on canvas, canvas size 218 × 379 cm. The young artist's move to the "capital", his impressions of ancient Moscow architecture (at which he later said to M.A. on the way to his first historical masterpiece - the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution". The artist, according to the same Voloshin, “realized from the forms,” wrote what he saw, possessing an amazing ability to open the historical and poetic aura of external appearance. Therefore, when he said that “Streltsy” was born from the impression of “a burning candle on a white shirt”, and “Boyarynya Morozova” from a “crow in the snow,” this, of course, sounds like an anecdote, but at the same time it affects the very the nerve of the master's creative method.

Surikov wrote about his personal impressions: “It began here, in Moscow, with me something strange. First of all, I felt more comfortable here than in Petersburg. There was something in Moscow that reminded me much more of Krasnoyarsk, especially in winter. And, like forgotten dreams, the pictures of what I saw in childhood and then in my youth began to appear more and more in my memory, types, costumes began to be recalled, and I was drawn to all this, as to something dear and inexpressibly dear. But most of all I was captured by the Kremlin with its walls and towers. I myself do not know why, but I felt in them something surprisingly close to me, as if it had been well known for a long time. As soon as it started to get dark, I ... set off to wander around Moscow and more and more to the Kremlin walls. These walls became a favorite place for my walks precisely at dusk. And then one day I was walking along Red Square, not a soul was around ... And suddenly the scene of the shooter's execution flashed in my imagination, but it was so clear that even my heart was beating. I felt that if I write what I imagined, an amazing picture will come out. "

Over the years of work on the painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution", great changes have taken place in Surikov's life. He managed to get married, two daughters were born in the family - Olga and Elena. His wife Elizaveta Avgustovna Chare was French by her father, and by her mother she was a relative of the Decembrist Svistunov. They met back in St. Petersburg in the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Prospect, where they came to listen to organ music. Working on the murals in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Vasily Ivanovich often came to the capital, met with Elizaveta Avgustovna, was introduced to her father August Share, the owner of a small paper trading enterprise. The artist was not carried away by the work in the church, he dreamed of finishing it as soon as possible, becoming financially independent and getting married. The wedding took place on January 25, 1878 in the Vladimir Church in St. Petersburg. From the groom's side, only the Kuznetsov and Chistyakov family were present. Surikov was afraid of his mother's reaction to the news of his marriage to a French woman and did not inform his relatives in Krasnoyarsk about the wedding.

The young people settled in Moscow. The painter plunged headlong into work on the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution". He was finally free from material worries, the household chores were taken over by his spouse. However, in everyday life Vasily Ivanovich was always unassuming and simple. For several years, Surikov did not write anything extraneous. The capturing idea of ​​the painting completely filled all his thoughts. Once upon a time, one image sunk into his memory, striking like a tragic allegory: a candle lit in the afternoon is a sad symbol of funeral and death. He worried Surikov for many years until he merged with the theme of the massacre of the archers. The light of a candle in the still living hand, dim in the blue air of a gloomy morning, was associated with execution. The architectural environment of the Execution Ground near the Kremlin suggested the basis for the multi-figured composition, and the images of the archers and many candles became its key components.

The amazing picture is permeated through and through with symbols. An extinguished candle is an extinguished life. The inconsolable woman in the foreground presses the extinguished candle of the already executed archer to her head. A barely smoldering candle of the one who is now being taken to execution is thrown into the mud next to her. The soldier in the center has already taken the death candle from the gray-haired bearded man and is blowing it out. The rest of the candles are still burning evenly and brightly.

The central plot line of the picture and its main emotional core is the opposition of the archers to the royal tyranny. The most symbolic is the image of a red-bearded soldier. His hands are tied, his legs are shackled, but an implacable gaze flaming with hatred hits the entire space of the picture, colliding with the angry and equally implacable gaze of Peter. The foreigners on the right are quietly watching what is happening, but then they will be horrified to describe how the Russian autocrat personally acted as the executioner. Peter personally cut off the heads of five rebels and one clergyman who blessed the revolt with an ax, and executed more than eighty archers with a sword. The tsar also forced his boyars, who did not know how to handle an ax and inflicted unbearable torment on the condemned, to participate in the cruel reprisal. Surikov read about all this in the diary of the secretary of the Austrian embassy Korb, an eyewitness to the events.

But in the picture itself there are no bloody scenes: the artist wanted to convey the greatness of the last minutes, and not the execution itself. Only a lot of red details of clothing, as well as the crimson silhouette of the Intercession Cathedral, towering over the same condemned archers and their families, reminds the viewer of how much blood was shed on that tragic morning.

The architectural design of the canvas is very important. The lonely tower of the Kremlin corresponds to the lonely figure of the tsar; the second, near tower, unites the crowd of observers, boyars and foreigners into one whole; the even formation of soldiers exactly repeats the line of the Kremlin wall. The artist deliberately moved all the buildings to the Execution Ground, using the compositional technique of bringing plans together and creating the effect of a huge crowd of people. The cathedral continues and crowns this crowd of people, but the central dome of the Church of the Intercession of the Theotokos did not seem to fit into space: it is cut off by the upper edge of the picture and symbolizes the image of Russia, beheaded by Peter I. The remaining ten domes correspond to the ten depicted mortal candles.

The latter are clearly not accidentally arranged in accordance with strict geometry. Four bright lights lie exactly on one inclined line, starting from the lower left corner (in the hand of a person sitting with his back to us), passing through the candle flame of the red-bearded and black-bearded archers to the suicide bomber standing above and bowing to the people. But if, through a candle located on the canvas above the others, in the hands of a standing archer, draw a straight line directed downward - to the one that burns out in the mud, then this line will also connect the three flames, passing through the light blown out by the soldier. Thus, a strict cross is clearly manifested, as if crushing the crowd of doomed rioters. Three other, less noticeable candles, located in the background of the composition (on the left under the arc, in front of the archer standing above and immediately behind it), are also located on the same line, actually dividing the canvas in half. It is crossed along a strict perpendicular by a straight line drawn between the upper candlestick and the extinguished one. In total, there are three regular crosses on the cartan. The third is formed by the intersection of the "line of will and opposition" (from the eyes of the king to the eyes of the red-bearded archer) and the one that goes from the extinguished candle to the quiet light in the background, below the face of the standing archer.

Surikov's entire work is characterized by an amazing concern for those who come to look at his paintings: “I had all the thought so that the viewer would not be disturbed, so that there would be peace in everything ...”, - he said about his “Sagittarius”. Despite the horror of the transmitted historical event, the artist tried to portray the tragedy of human destinies as discreetly as possible. No outwardly pretentious showiness and theatricality, no axes brought up, hands raised to the sky, bloody clothes, gallows and severed heads. Only the deep drama of the nationwide grief. I don't want to turn away from this picture with a shudder, on the contrary, looking at it, you become more and more immersed in details, empathize with its heroes, acutely understanding the cruelty of that time.

The painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" was exhibited at the Ninth Traveling Exhibition in March 1881. Even before its opening, Ilya Repin wrote to Pavel Tretyakov: “Surikov's painting makes an irresistible, deep impression on everyone. All unanimously showed their readiness to give her the best place; everyone has it written on their faces that she is our pride at this exhibition ... Today she is already framed and finally set ... What a prospect, how far Peter has gone! Mighty picture! " Tretyakov immediately acquired this brilliant historical work for his collection, paying the master eight thousand rubles.

But March 1, 1881 was marked by another event that constituted a mystical counterbalance to the theme of reprisals against the rebels. On the day of the beginning of the exhibition, in which the central place was occupied by a picture depicting the execution of archers by Tsar Peter I, the People's Will committed an act of terrorism, having dealt with Emperor Alexander II.

Dedicated to the execution of the archers after the unsuccessful riot of 1698.

The painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" was Surikov's first large canvas on the theme of Russian history. The artist began work on it in 1878. He created a painting in Moscow, where he moved permanently after graduating from the Academy of Arts. The artist turned to the events of the era of Peter I, when the Streletsky revolt, led by Princess Sophia, was suppressed, and the streltsy were executed. However, Surikov did not show the execution itself, since he did not seek to shock the viewer, but wanted to tell about the tragic fate of the people at the moment of a historical turning point. The artist focused on the state of mind of the condemned and what each of them experiences in the last minutes of his life.

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  There are two main characters in the picture - young Peter, sitting on a horse near the Kremlin walls, and a red-haired archer, angrily looking at the king. This frantic person is the emotional center of the composition. His hands are tied, his feet are hammered into stocks, but he has not resigned himself to his fate. In his hands, he clutches a candle with a fluttering tongue of flame. Peter looks at the archers with no less angry and implacable gaze. He is full of the consciousness of his righteousness. A diagonal line can be drawn between the figures of Sagittarius and Peter; it visually demonstrates the opposition of these characters.

  Other archers are shown just as emotionally. A black-bearded archer in a red caftan thrown over his shoulders looks around gloomily, sullenly. And he did not submit to Peter's judgment. The consciousness of the gray-haired archer was clouded by the horror of the impending execution, he does not see the children who have fallen to him. The soldier grabs the candle from his unclenched, powerless hand. The bowed head of the archer standing on the cart foreshadows his future fate. The soldiers are dragging another exhausted archer to the gallows. The already unnecessary caftan and cap have been thrown to the ground, the wick of a candle that has fallen from his hands is smoldering slightly. A young streltsy wife screams in despair, the son clung to his mother and hid his face in the folds of her clothes. The old woman sank heavily to the ground. A frightened little girl in a red kerchief screams beside her.

  The deep tragedy of the moment also emphasizes the dark coloring of the picture. The artist chose the time of the execution - the morning after a rainy autumn night, when it was just beginning to dawn and the cold morning fog had not had time to completely dissipate over the square. In this setting, the white shirts of the convicts and the flickering lights of their candles stand out among the dark crowd. In the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution" Surikov applied the compositional technique of bringing plans together, reducing the distance between the Execution Ground, the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed and the Kremlin Wall. So he achieved the effect of a huge crowd of people, full of life and movement, in reality, depicting only a few dozen characters. The architectural background of the painting is also important. The colorful chapters of St. Basil's Cathedral correspond to the figures of archers, and the Kremlin tower - to the figure of Peter I on horseback.

  Reception of the painting by the public

  "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" was the first work presented by Surikov to the audience. She was introduced

  In Vasily Surikov's painting "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution" we see the tragic scene of the execution of the Moscow archers in the fall of 1698. The artist worked on the canvas for three years. This is the first large-scale painting by Vasily Surikov and one of his most famous works. The dimensions of the canvas are 218 by 379 cm.

  The first Streletsky revolt took place in the spring of 1682 after the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. The tsar had no children, and his young brothers Ivan and Peter, who had different mothers - Maria Miloslavskaya and Natalya Naryshkina, claimed the throne. Ivan was a sickly boy from childhood and was not at all interested in state affairs, and Peter at that time was only 10 years old. With the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters elevated Peter to the throne.

  The Miloslavskys saw this as an infringement on their interests and, taking advantage of the discontent of the Moscow archers, to come to power, provoked their revolt. Due to the empty treasury, the archers were delayed in salary, in addition, at the filing of the Miloslavsky clan, false rumors were spread: allegedly, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich did not die of his own death, that he was poisoned, and Tsarevich Ivan is dead - he was strangled by the Naryshkins.

  The archers broke into the royal palace and began to commit atrocities, catching and killing the Naryshkins. As a result, two brothers of Natalya Naryshkina, the elderly prince Yuri Dolgoruky, his son and many of their supporters died. The bloodshed took place for three days from 15 to 17 April 1682 in front of 10-year-old Peter. It is unlikely that the archers could have thought how terrible the young tsar would take revenge on them for humiliating and killing his relatives.

  As a result, at the insistence of the Miloslavskys, in June 1682, both brothers were married to the kingdom - Ivan, unable to rule the country, as well as Peter. But in fact, power passed to Princess Sophia, who occupied the residence in the Kremlin, and Peter and his mother Natalya Kirillovna were forced to retire to Preobrazhenskoye.

  In 1689, Peter was 17 years old and formally there were no conditions for Sophia's regency. But the princess was not going to give up the throne, and a tough confrontation remained between her and Peter. In August, Peter was informed that an attempt was being made on him. Frightened, he hid in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where his amusing army went, which by that time was a significant force. Here he signed a decree in which he orderedthe streltsy colonels to appear at his disposal, accompanied by the streltsy elected. For non-observance of the order, the tsar threatened them with the death penalty.

  Soon, most of the archers obeyed Peter and arrived at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and Sophia, left without support, was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.

  The second rifle revolt took place in 1698. Its reason is considered to be the discontent of the archers with a low salary and isolation from families. At the same time, Sophia, who dreamed of returning to the throne, called on the archers to come to her aid and protect Russia from the invasion of the Gentiles. Taking advantage of Peter's departure from Moscow, the archers went to the capital, but they only managed to reach the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery. Here they were defeated by troops loyal to Peter.

  Returning from abroad, the king began an investigation, accompanied by torture and executions. By his order, more than a thousand of the rebels were executed in various ways, about six hundred people were exiled. Tsarina Sophia, tonsured into a nun, died in 1704, having outlived her archers by 6 years.

  The artist Vasily Surikov refers to the tragic history of the Streltsy riot. On the canvas, we see a scene of the execution taking place on Red Square, on Execution Ground. The artist depicted the moment preceding the massacre itself, the last minutes of the life of the archers. Sentenced to death, they say goodbye to their relatives and like-minded people, one of them is already being led to execution.

  Initially, Vasily Surikov wanted to depict several executed in the picture. However, after his maid fainted when she saw a man who was hanged in chalk, the artist abandoned his idea.

  The central plot line of the picture is the confrontation between two personalities - the archer, in whose hands a candle (a symbol of funeral and death) and Peter, proudly riding on a horse. Their views are irreconcilable, full of hatred and anger.

  Please note that the soldiers are lined up exactly along the Kremlin wall, over which crows are circling, and those sentenced to death, dressed in white clothes, with candles in their hands, are depicted against the background of St. Basil's Cathedral. Even death did not force them to renounce their views.

  One of the archers was taken to execution, his candle was extinguished and thrown into the mud. The soldier in the center has taken the candle from the gray-haired archer and puts it out. Soon, and that will be reprisal. Several candles are still burning evenly and brightly. How much bitterness and despair are in the faces of the wives, mothers and children of the doomed, but unrepentant archers!

  In Vasily Surikov's painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution", the main character is the people, it was his artist who depicted in the foreground. The faces of the archers and the soldiers are somewhat similar, and the soldiers who lead the rebel to the execution are friendly support. Thus, the artist wanted to show that the people divided by history remains one.