(1848-1926)
Warriors
The picture Warriors (1881-1898) was conceived in the seventies. This is the most famous of Vasnetsov’s works, which he loved best of all. It took many years to paint, as is seen from the numerous studies. The most notable of these is the study for Ilya Muromets sketched from Ivan Petrov (1883), a peasant in Vladimir Gubernia.
The images of these warriors rank among Vasnetsov’s principal and most cherished characters through whom he expressed the patriotic and heroic sentiments of his people.
A “warrior outpost” vigilantly guards the borders of the Russian land. “Warriors Dobrinya, Ilya and Alyosha Popovich, on spirited chargers, scan the field for an enemy or a sign of injustice”, was the painter’s own explanation of the content of this canvas. Ilya Muromets, the mighty “peasant son” is in the middle. On his right is Dobrinya Nikitich, drawing his sword; he is a valiant fighter for truth, whom legends have endowed not only with strength but also “light” – knowledge and learning. On the left, “fitting a tempered arrow” is Alyosha Popovich, who, according to legends, combined strength and daring with warrior-like alertness and cunning.
V.V. Stasov, Vasnetsov’s biographer and friend, was right in saying: “I consider Vasnetsov’s Warriors as one of the leading works in the history of Russian painting” and that it shows “a triumphant, calm and grand force, unafraid of anybody and doing anything it pleases if it thinks it necessary for everybody, for the people”.
Warriors is the crowning work, as it were, of Vasnetsov’s vividly national, realistic and life-asserting art.