#романтизм

Viktor Vasnetsov. Duel Peresvet With Chelubey.
1914. Samara Regional Art Museum, Samara.

Alexander Peresvet, also spelled Peresviet, was a Russian Orthodox Christian monk who fought in a single combat with the Tatar champion Temir-murza (known in most Russian sources as Chelubeyor Cheli-bey) at the opening of the Battle of Kulikovo (8 September 1380). The champions killed each other in the first run, though according to a Russian legend, Peresvet did not fall from the saddle, while Temir-murza did. Peresvet’s body, together with that of his brother-in-arms Oslyabya, were brought to Moscow, where they lie buried at the 15th-century Theotokos Church in Simonovo.

Karl Bryullov. Italian, Expecting a Child, Looking at His Shirt, Her Husband Cobble Together a Cradle.
1831. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Ivan Aivazovsky. Shipwreck.
1854. State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg.

This painting is a testament to the artist’s skill of portraying light and dark. With nothing more than a pencil and gouache on paper, this scene illustrates the strong winds and crash of the waves with violent intensity. This intensity makes you fear for the safety of the standing observers, as if the waves threaten to dash the ship against the cliff, upon which they are standing, and throw them into the sea. Three seagulls fly over the ship, creating the slight sense that all hope is not lost, and seeming as if is not impossible to hope that the ship may not yet be lost.