Conquest, conquest, annexation of Siberia - what was it? Was expansion or everything was relatively peaceful? Disputes among historians do not subside.
Russian advance to the East
It included the gradual conquest of territories to the Pacific Ocean and Kamchatka. Ermak’s campaign in Siberia is a private episode. At the same time, the local population called Russians Cossacks. The strongest resistance was exerted by the Siberian Khanate and Khanty tribes. Surikov’s painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” will tell about this.
The Stroganovs invited a small detachment of Yermak to Kama to protect their possessions from attacks by Voguls and wits. Several battles took place as the detachment moved east, beyond the Urals. In the fall of about 1581, Khan Kuchum gathered an army consisting of different Siberian tribes. They recruited almost fifteen thousand people. Ermak’s detachment was much smaller, but part of the khan’s troops abandoned him, and he lost this battle. It is this skirmish at the confluence of Tobol and Irtysh that the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” depicts.
Work on etudes and composition
The idea to write a historical canvas came to V. Surikov when he was at home in Krasnoyarsk in 1891. He worked a lot in Siberia, creating sketches and looking for characters.
Work was carried out on the Ob and in Khakassia. Compositionally, the picture only seems to be divided into two parts. If you look closely, you will clearly see a triangle created from the squad of Yermak, which cuts into a swarming mass of troops of the khan with a sharp wedge. It is the sharp wedge that creates the special tension of the battle when the picture “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” is carefully considered. At first, a landscape without people was painted on the banks of the Ob, which, after finding types, Surikov would fill with a mass of troops. This is what the originally deserted beach looked like.
This then will be the picture “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak”. In addition, the painter worked carefully as an ethnographer, creating genuine objects of long-standing life on the canvas: shields, bows, helmets, chain mail, clothes, boats and plows. All this served to create a historically true atmosphere on the canvas. For a very long time the artist was looking for the future image of Ermak. Found him on the Don, as, however, and the Cossacks.
No wonder the work was carried out for four years. Surikov studied historical records, songs about Ermak. All taken together has developed into a battle work, known as the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak”.
Confrontation
On the left is a small Russian squad. All warriors are tightly merged, they are united by one idea, the will to win. The expression of their faces does not give an opportunity to doubt their courage. One of the fighters jumped out of the boat and stood in the cold muddy clay water. He shoots, but if the gun refuses, he has a saber, it breaks, then the ax, which he put in his belt, is useful.
The figure of Ermak (the painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak") is central. It is distinguished by the movement of the ataman of the Cossacks, which gives direction to his small detachment. The battle is in full swing. But the enemies, this is visible in the background, can no longer withstand the tension and are ready to retreat, even their backs are visible. Some have already turned back. A little more - and the outcome of the battle will be decided.
Color
Surikov chose a wonderful restrained color. “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” (picture) does not shine with bright colors, but shimmers with an amazing game of shades and writing. The artist delved into the life of every character, into every fold of his costume, in the shine of steel on trunks, swords and arrows. Everything is designed in golden brown, but Surikov’s painting “Conquering Ermak of Siberia” is gloomy and heavy. The harsh landscape of Siberia on an autumn day is dark. Heavily rolling clay brown water the river. Presses the gray sky on the already running riders. But it is impossible not to notice the only figure of the Cossack, which the author of the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” highlighted red cinnabar. Reflections of shots flicker, clouds of smoke from them. Everything is presented to the viewer vividly, convexly and reliably.
Offensive, overcoming obstacles, victory - everything was shown by Surikov in his canvas. The action takes place in Siberia, but it concerns Russia, because the Tatar Khan Kuchum has already approached the Urals and began to threaten the Volga. For the artist himself, the topic was close because his ancestors came to Siberia and were the founders of Krasnoyarsk. So the past is being revived in the artist’s work. It becomes part of the present, not museum, but living.