View source for Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan

{{Short description|1885 painting by Ilya Repin}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox artwork
| title              = Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581
| painting_alignment =
| other_language_1   = [[Russian language|Russian]]
| other_title_1      = {{lang|ru|Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года}}
| other_language_2   =
| other_title_2      =
| wikidata           =
| image              = Iván el Terrible y su hijo,  por Iliá Repin.jpg
| image_size         = 350px
| image_upright      =
| alt                =
| caption            =
| artist             = [[Ilya Repin]]
| year               = 1883–1885
| catalogue          =
| medium             = [[Oil on canvas]]
| movement           =
| subject            =
| height_metric      = 199.5
| width_metric       = 254
| length_metric      =
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| dimensions         =
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| weight             =
| designation        =
| condition          =
| museum             = [[Tretyakov Gallery]]
| city               = [[Moscow]]
| coordinates        =  <!-- Only use for the coordinates (when known) of the artwork itself, i.e. not for the site, building, structure, etc where it is kept, otherwise leave blank (or omit): {{coord|LAT|LON|type:landmark|display=inline,title}} -->
| owner              =
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| website            =  <!-- Official webpage/site only: {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}
'''''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581'''''{{efn|The work is variously referred to as ''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'', with or without the date, or ''Ivan the Terrible kills his son''.}} is a painting by Russian [[realism (arts)|realist]] artist [[Ilya Repin]] made between 1883 and 1885. It depicts the grief-stricken [[Tsars of Russia|Russian tsar]] [[Ivan the Terrible]] cradling his dying son, the [[Tsarevich]] [[Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of Russia|Ivan Ivanovich]], shortly after Ivan the Terrible had dealt a fatal blow to his son's head in a fit of anger. The painting portrays the anguish and remorse on the face of the elder Ivan and the shock and heartbreak of the dying Tsarevich, shedding a tear at the unexpected betrayal and shock of having been killed by his father's hands.
Repin used [[Grigoriy Myasoyedov]], his friend and fellow artist, as the model for Ivan the Terrible, and writer [[Vsevolod Garshin]] for the Tsarevich. In 1885, upon completion of the oil-on-canvas work, Repin sold it to [[Pavel Tretyakov]] for display in his [[Tretyakov Gallery]] in Moscow.
It has been called one of Russia's most famous and controversial paintings, and is normally on display in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
== Background and inspiration ==
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 200
| header =
| image1 = Konstantin_Makovsky_Alexander_II_na_smertnom_odre_1881.jpg
| caption1 = ''Emperor Alexander II on His Deathbed''. [[Konstantin Makovsky]].
| image2 = Казнь_первомартовцев2.jpg
| caption2 =  ''Execution of the Pervomartovtsy''.  A.A. Nesvetevich.
}}
Repin began working on the painting in Moscow.<ref name="RepinSite">{{cite web |title=История создания картины Репина 'Иван Грозный и сын его Ива' |url=http://ilya-repin.ru/ivan-grozny.php |website=Ilya Repin RU |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru}}</ref> A first overall sketch, with the character of the Tsar turned to his right, dates from 1882. The idea of the painting, according to Repin, is linked to his confrontation with the themes of violence, revenge and blood during the [[Assassination of Alexander II of Russia|political events of 1881]]; additional sources of inspiration were the music of [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]] and the bullfights Repin had witnessed during a trip to Western Europe in 1883.
=== Political violence ===
On 13 March 1881 in [[Saint Petersburg]], the reformist Russian Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] was [[Assassination of Alexander II of Russia|assassinated]] by a bomb thrown by [[Ignacy Hryniewiecki]], a member of the revolutionary organization [[Narodnaya Volya]]. The bomb also seriously injured Hryniewiecki, who died a few hours later. Hryniewiecki's accomplices, the [[Pervomartovtsy]], were executed on 13 April 1881.{{sfn|Kel'ner|2015}}{{sfn|Yarmolinsky|2016|p=279}} Repin, who visited Saint Petersburg in mid-February 1881 for the opening of the [[Peredvizhniki|Wanderers]]' exhibition, was present when the tsar was killed. He returned there in April and attended the execution of the attack's perpetrators and their accomplices.<ref name="Lyaskovskaya">{{cite book |last1=Lyaskovskaya |first1=Olga |title=Илья Ефимович Репин |chapter=К истории создания картины И. Е. Репина «Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года» |url=http://artpoisk.info/article/k_istorii_sozdaniya_kartiny_i_e_repina_ivan_groznyy_i_syn_ego_ivan_16_noyabrya_1581_goda/ |access-date=18 November 2021 |location=Moscow |language=ru |date=1953 |trans-title=Ilya Yefimovich Repin}}</ref>
Repin's friend, poet [[Vasily Kamensky]], wrote in his memoirs Repin had told him "how he had witnessed the public execution of the Pervomartovtsy" ([[Andrei Zhelyabov|Zhelyabov]], [[Sophia Perovskaya|Perovskaya]], [[Nikolai Kibalchich|Kibalchich]], [[Timofey Mikhailov|Mikhailov]] and [[Nikolai Rysakov|Rysakov]]). "Ah, as it was nightmare times,"&nbsp;– sighed Repin&nbsp;– "complex, appalling. I even remember each board on the breasts, with the inscription "regicide". I even remember Zhelyabov's gray pants, Perovskaya's black hat".<ref name="Lyaskovskaya" />
Several of Repin's next paintings; ''Refusal of confession'' ({{lang|ru|Отказ от исповеди}}; 1881), ''Arrest of a propagandist'' ({{lang|ru|Арест пропагандиста}}, 1882) and ''[[They Did Not Expect Him]]'' ({{lang|ru|Не ждали}}; 1884–1888); were devoted to the Pervomartovtsy. He also wrote several times in his memoirs about this period of his creations: "This year followed like a trace of blood, our feelings were bruised by the horrors of the contemporary world, it was frightening to confront it: it will end badly!&nbsp;... We had to look for a way out at this key moment in history."<ref name="Nikonova">{{cite book |last1=Alexandrova |first1=Natalya |last2=Nikonova |first2=Natalya |last3=Vvedenskaya |first3=Elena |title=Герои и злодеи русской истории в искусстве XVIII — XX веков |date=2010 |location=Saint Petersburg |isbn=978-5-93332-355-6 |page=95 |language=ru |trans-title=Heroes and criminals in the history of Russian art from the 18th to the 20th century}}</ref><ref name="RepinSite2">{{cite web |title=Илья Репин. Галерея картин и рисунков художника - Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года, 1885 |url=http://ilya-repin.ru/master/repin4.php |website=Ilya Repin RU |language=ru |access-date=18 November 2021 |trans-title=Ilya Repin. Gallery of paintings and drawings of the artist – Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, 1885}}</ref> For Repin, there was a link between the events of 1881 and the scene represented in ''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581'' from exactly 300 years earlier, in which the Tsar is the murderer.<ref name="Lyaskovskaya" />
=== Music of Rimsky-Korsakov ===
Another inspiration for the painting was the symphonic suite ''[[Antar (Rimsky-Korsakov)|Antar]]'', which was composed by the Russian [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]] and is composed of four movements; the opening movement, vengeance, power, and love.<ref name="Rakhmanova">{{cite web |last1=Rakhmanova |first1=Marina |title=Римский-Корсаков. 'Антар' (Antar, Op. 9) |url=http://www.belcanto.ru/rimsky_antar.html |website=Belcanto |access-date=18 November 2021 |trans-title=Rimsky-Korsakov. "Antar" (Antar, Op. 9)}}</ref>
The music of ''Antar''{{'s}} bloody second movement<ref name="Sedoy">{{cite web |last1=Vasiliev-Sedoy |first1=Victor |title=Репин. Реальность, парадоксы и мистика |url=https://proza.ru/2016/03/28/386 |website=Proza |access-date=18 November 2021 |trans-title=Repin. Reality, paradoxes and mysticism}}</ref> inspired Repin the most; he said in his memoirs:<ref name="Ionina">{{cite book |last1=Nadezhda |first1=Ionina |title=Сто великих картин |date=2000 |publisher=Вече |location=Moscow |isbn=978-5-7838-0579-0 |language=ru |trans-title=Hundred great paintings}}</ref><ref name="RepinSite" />
{{blockquote|In Moscow in 1881, while I was listening to a new piece by Rimsky-Korsakov, ''Vengeance'' ("''Месть''"). This sound wave took possession of me, and I thought, that I could not embody the state of the soul I had known under the influence of this music in a painting. I then remembered Tsar Ivan.<ref name="Ionina" />}}
=== Trip to Europe ===
Repin's painting is also striking because of its representation of blood, which is seeping from the Tsarevich's temple and remains on the floor in a puddle after his father has picked him up. According to Repin's memoirs, he was influenced by his 1883 trip to Europe, where he witnessed bullfights:
{{blockquote|Misfortune, death, murder and blood make up a hole that draws you into it with force. At the same time, there are so many bloody paintings in all the exhibitions. And I, probably overtaken by all this bloodiness, on my return home, started the bloody scene of Ivan the Terrible with his son. And this painting had a great success.<ref name="RepinSite2" />}}
== Creation ==
According to Repin, the design and painting of the canvas were a lengthy process:
{{blockquote|I painted in tears, I was tortured, I tormented myself, I corrected again and again what I had painted, I hid it, in a sickly disappointment, no longer believing in my strength, I erased what I had painted. I had already erased, and I was attacking the canvas again. Every minute was terrible to me. I was disappointed with this painting, I hid it. And it made the same impression on my friends. But something pushed me towards it, and again I was working on it.<ref name="Ionina" />}}
The painting depicts one of the rooms of the {{ill|Chambers of the Romanov Boyars|ru|Палаты Романовых}} from the 17th century while the accessories, throne, mirror, and [[kaftan]] were painted at the [[Kremlin Armoury]]. The chest is part of the collections of the [[Rumyantsev Museum]].<ref name="RepinSite" />
Most of Repin's work involved the choice of models; he sought the faces he needed from acquaintances and passers-by. The models for Ivan the Terrible were the painter [[Grigoriy Myasoyedov]] and the composer {{ill|Pavel Blaramberg|ru|Бларамберг, Павел Иванович}}, while the landscape painter {{ill|Vladimir Menk|ru|Менк, Владимир Карлович}} and writer [[Vsevolod Garshin]] modelled for Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich.<ref name="RepinSite2" /> When he was asked about choosing Garshin, Repin replied:
{{blockquote|There is a predestination in Garshin's face that struck me. He has the face of a man irreparably condemned to perish. This is what was needed for my Tsarevich.<ref name="Prorokova">{{cite book |last1=Prorokova |first1=Sophia |title=Репин |date=1960 |publisher=Молодая гвардия |location=Moscow |page=209 |language=ru |trans-title=Repin}}</ref>}}
<gallery widths="170" heights="230" caption="Sketches and portraits of the models" mode="packed">
Blagamberg par Ilia Répine (détail).png|Portrait of composer Pavel Blaramberg (1884).
Myasoyedov by Repin 1883.jpg|Portrait of the painter Grigoriy Myasoyedov (1883).
Garshin by Repin 1883.jpg|Portrait of the writer Vsevolod Garshin (1883).
Menk by Repin.jpg|Portrait of the painter Vladimir Menk (1884).
</gallery>
<gallery widths="200" heights="280" caption="''Ivan the Terrible kills his son'' – detail" mode="packed">
Ivan the Terrible & son - detail.jpg|alt=Detail of the painting. The face of the terrified Czar and that of his bleeding and crying son.
</gallery>
According to Polish-American art historian [[Elizabeth Kridl Valkenier]], the incorporation of Garshin's face completes and allows her to be fully satisfied with the painting.<ref name="met">{{cite journal |last1=Valkenier |first1=Elizabeth |author1-link=Elizabeth Kridl Valkenier |title=The Writer as Artist's Model: Repin's Portrait of Garshin |journal=Metropolitan Museum Journal |date=1993 |volume=28 |pages=211–212 |doi=10.2307/1512927 |jstor=1512927 |s2cid=155366014 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/journals/1/pdf/1512927.pdf.bannered.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002123234/https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/journals/1/pdf/1512927.pdf.bannered.pdf |access-date=18 November 2021|archive-date=2 October 2019 }}</ref>
== Analysis ==
=== Moment represented ===
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| width = 220
| image1   = Ivan the Terrible killing his son (sketch, 1882, GRM).jpg
| image2    = Répine Ivan le Terrible et son fils Ivan esquisse sur toile 1882-1899.jpg
| image3    = Répine Ivan le Terrible et son fils Ivan principale version 1883 - 1885.jpg
| footer = From top to bottom: {{ulist|pencil sketch (1882 – 20.7 × 27.1 cm);|oil sketch (1883, 1899 – 22.2 × 36 cm);|Final version (1884–1888).}}
}}
Although the painting is sometimes called ''Ivan the Terrible kills his son'', Repin did not paint the moment at which the Tsar hits the Tsarevich. The work does not represent violence but its resolution.<ref name="met" /> Ivan the Terrible holds his son. His eyes "bulging with horror, despair and madness",<ref name="arthive">{{cite web |last1=Esaoulova |first1=Alena |title=Илья Ефимович Репин – «Иван Грозный и его сын Иван 16 ноября 1581 года» |url=https://arthive.com/ilyarepin/works/294983~Ivan_the_terrible_and_his_son_Ivan_on_16_November_1581 |website=Art Hive |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref> he embraces him by the waist. Tsarevich Ivan, weeping, gently waves his hand.<ref name="met" />
Two modifications to the preliminary sketches show the distance established by the painter with the altercation; the sceptre with which the Tsar strikes his son's temple is in his hand in the first sketches while in the final painting, it is on the floor in front of them.<ref name="arthive" /><ref name="met" /> The bloodstain where the Tsarevich's head rests on the floor, which is very visible in the oil sketch Repin made in 1883, and which he kept and resumed later, is erased in the shadows of the final painting. Ivan Ivanovich's dress no longer has a long bloodstain. The represented moment becomes one of remorse, forgiveness and love.<ref name="met" /> The painting also shows, in its centre, the reality and the irreversibility of the tsar's act: the blood flows from his son's temple and the attempt Ivan the Terrible makes to contain it with his left hand is hopeless.<ref name="arthive" />
=== Description and composition ===
The painting's {{Convert|199.5|×|254|cm|inch|abbr=on}} canvas is one of Repin's largest works; its dimensions are comparable to those of the ''[[Barge Haulers on the Volga]]'' and the ''[[Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate]]''.<ref name="Churak">{{cite book |last1=Churak |first1=Galinina |title=Илья Репин |date=2014 |publisher=[[Tretyakov Gallery]] |isbn=978-5-89480-032-5 |page=35 |oclc=49657097 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49657097 |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Ilya Repin}}</ref>
The two characters are crisscrossed with each other in the centre of the painting. They are depicted in a twilight<ref name="Churak" /> and stand out from both the foreground of the canvas and the darker background.<ref name="arthive" /><ref name="Fetzer">{{cite journal |last1=Fetzer |first1=Leland |title=Art and Assassination: Garshin's 'Nadezhda Nikolaevna' |journal=The Russian Review |date=1975 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=55–65 |jstor=127759 |doi=10.2307/127759 }}</ref> The gesture with which Ivan the Terrible hugs and supports his son's waist is reminiscent of the paintings ''[[The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt)|The Return of the Prodigal Son]]'' and ''[[David and Jonathan (Rembrandt)]]'' by Dutch painter [[Rembrandt]],  which Repin studied and admired since his formative years, and are housed in the [[Hermitage Museum]].<ref name="met" /><ref name="Lyaskovskaya" />
The construction of the painting is based on objects and pieces of furniture that are distributed around the characters: the crumpled red carpets on the floor, the Tsarevich's boots, the sceptre, the throne that was overturned during the argument, one of the ornamental balls that sparkles at the level of the son's eyes, and his cushion.<ref name="arthive" /> Behind the figures, other pieces of furniture, such as the stove, the mirror of the Armor Museum and the chest of the Rumyantsev Palace, are less discernible. The back wall of the room is partly covered with a red-and-black diamond pattern. At the top left is a narrow bay.<ref name="RepinSite" />
=== Colours and material ===
[[File:Tsarevich's boots by Repin.jpg|180px|alt=Pair of crisscrossed green boots on a red background.|thumb|Sketch of the Tsarevich's boots (1883).]]
Repin wrote he refused "the acrobatics of the brush and painting for the sake of painting"<ref name="Chukovsky">{{cite book |last1=Chukovsky |first1=Korney |author1-link=Korney Chukovsky |title=Илья Репин |date=1969 |location=Moscow |page=59 |language=ru |trans-title=Ilya Repin}}</ref> and that "the beauty, the touch or the virtuosity of the brush" was not the only important things because he had always pursued "the essential: the body, as a body".<ref>{{cite book |last=Repin |first=Ilya |author-link=Ilya Repin |date=1937 |title=Далёкое близкое |trans-title=Distant close |url=https://www.prlib.ru/item/1272678 |location=Moscow |publisher=Захаров |page=351 |isbn=978-5-8159-0204-6 |language=ru}}</ref> ''Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan'' is "painted with such a diversity of craftsmanship and with such a rich palette of dark chords" that it is, according to Russian painter and art critic [[Ivan Kramskoi]], an "authentic orchestra".<ref name="Churak" /> An "intense red"<ref name="ikleiner">{{cite web |last1=Nadezhda |first1=Ionina |title=Репин И. Иван Грозный убивает своего сына |url=https://www.ikleiner.ru/lib/picture/picture-0050.shtml |website=Ikleiner |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Ivan the Terrible kills his son}}</ref> or "blood red",<ref name="nearyou">{{cite web |author1=Н.Д. Моргунова-Рудницкая |title=И.E. Репин – Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года |url=http://nearyou.ru/repin/t85ioan.html |website=NearYou |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630151404/http://nearyou.ru/repin/t85ioan.html |archive-date=30 June 2018 |language=ru}}</ref> and "thick and saturated crimson red" predominates.<ref name="Churak" /> It is painted with pure colour, with no additions, and then reworked by the painter with an extraordinary diversity of shades.<ref name="ikleiner" />
The scarlet red of the blood flowing from the wound on the Tsarevich's temple stands out, as do the reflections on the folds of his kaftan, and finally the dark-red puddle of blood on the red carpet, and this tension of colours resonates with the tragedy depicted on the canvas.<ref name="ikleiner" /> In the centre, the magnificence of the Tsarevich's kaftan contrasts with the darkness of Ivan the Terrible's black coat.<ref name="nearyou" /> Repin breaks this combination of blood red, pink and dark-brown tones with the complementary tones of the green of the Tsarevich's boots and the deep-blue of his velvet trousers.<ref name="nearyou" /> White light, "cold and weak", which penetrates through a narrow bay, attenuates this tension of colours and further reinforces the dramatic tension of the scene.<ref name="ikleiner" />
=== Symbolic scope ===
[[File:Иллюстрация к рассказу «Четыре дня». (Рисунок худ. Дубровского.).jpg|thumb|Illustration by painter Doubrovsky from Vsevolod Garchine's short story "{{ill|Four Days (short story)|ru|Четыре дня|lt=Four Days}}".<br>The writer's first work, it exhibits the interior monologue of a soldier wounded and left for dead on the battlefield for four days, face to face with the corpse of a Turkish soldier he has just killed. His deep empathy for all beings is already there.]]
For Repin and his contemporaries, the painting's first symbolic function is to express the existence of violence and moral rejection, which must be the object. According to [[Ivan Kramskoi]]; "it seems that a human being, after having carefully looked at this painting, even if only once, will be forever protected from the wild beast he has, as they say, in him".<ref name="RepinSite2" />
The representation of the aftermath of the father's altercation with his son is a historical episode and illustrates a person's "eternal" capacity to physically harm their neighbour. The painting can be understood as a pictorial parable of the commandment "[[Thou shalt not kill]]".<ref name="RepinSite2" /><ref name="Churak" />
The picture also seemed to approach a more-particularly religious inspiration, showing "Christian love and forgiveness" can repair crime, even infanticide.<ref name="met" /> The tsarevich's gesture and face are "almost like that of an icon", the tear that runs down the wing of his nose seem to depict forgiveness.<ref name="arthive" /> The similarity of the gesture of Ivan the Terrible's right arm with those of the figures in the two Rembrandt paintings also aligns with this position.<ref name="met" />
In the interpretation of the work, the personality of the writer [[Vsevolod Garshin]] provides additional details. In this period, Repin used Garshin as a model in several other paintings, including ''{{ill|Portrait (Repin)|fr|Portrait de Vsevolod Garchine|lt=Portrait}}'' (1884) and the large painting ''They Did Not Expect Him'', in which Garshin poses for the main character. Work on ''They Did Not Expect Him'' began in 1884 and ended the year of Garshin's suicide in 1888.<ref name="met" />
Repin appreciated Vsevolod Garshin, whom he considered an "incarnation of the divine" during their friendship and after his death. He wrote "his pensive eyes, often mixed with tears provoked by some injustice, his humble and delicate attitude, his angelic personality, with the purity of a dove, were those of a God". Repin's painting refers to Garshin's physical features, his personality and his deeply peaceful thought.<ref name="met" />
=== A representation of power ===
[[File:Nikolay Ge 064.jpg|upright=1.3|200px|thumb|[[Nikolai Ge]] – Sketch for ''Peter the Great interrogates Tsarevich Alexis in Peterhof'' (1871).|alt=Pencil drawing.]]
The political significance of the painting cannot be eluded because of the reactions to which it was immediately the subject. Repin combined Ivan the Terrible's killing of his son with the assassination of Alexander II. Neither Repin nor Russian art critics expanded upon this point.<ref name="Lyaskovskaya" />
French critics wrote about the point. According to [[Alain Besançon]], the tsarevich's murder by the tsar is a central scene of the Russian myth, which Repin was the first to represent: the history of Russia would be built on the sacrifice of sons killed by their fathers.<ref name="Marion">{{cite web |last1=Poirson-Dechon |first1=Marion |title=Du sacrifice d'Isaac au tsarévitch immolé |url=http://www.tramayfondo.com/actividades/viii-congreso/ponencias/pon08_8congreso_infancia-y-violencia.pdf |website=Tramay Fondo |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=fr |date=2016 |trans-title=From the sacrifice of Isaac to the slain tsarevich}}</ref>
Pierre Gonneau supports a converging position, stressing this sacrificial vision refers "to the symbolic roots of the monarchy because the sacrificed tsarevich finds himself in a position to embody the forces opposing the authority of the tsar".<ref name="Pierre" /> It makes a link with the trial of [[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia|Tsarevich Alexis]], son of [[Peter the Great]], and his death as a result of torture. This other conflict between a father and his son is the theme of  [[Nikolai Ge]]'s 1871 painting ''{{ill|Peter the Great interrogates Tsarevich Alexis in Peterhof|ru|Пётр I допрашивает царевича Алексея Петровича в Петергофе}}''.<ref name="Pierre">{{cite web |last1=Gonneau |first1=Pierre |title=Comment s'est forgée l'image d'Ivan le Terrible |url=https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/billets/comment-sest-forgee-limage-divan-le-terrible |website=CRNS Journal |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=fr |trans-title=How the image of Ivan the Terrible was forged |date=2014}}</ref>
=== 1909 version ===
In 1909, on a commission from the industrialist and collector {{ill|Stepan Ryabushinsky|ru|Рябушинский, Степан Павловичh}}, Repin painted a second version of ''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'', which he called ''Filicide'' ({{lang|ru|Сыноубийца}}). It is on display at Voronezh Museum of Fine Arts.<ref name="Tretyakov" /> The second version  was painted 25 years later than the first. In this version, Repin added a female character in the background and unveiled more colours than in the original painting, taking it in a more "luxuriant" direction, while Tsar Ivan's face is collapsed in grief.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gnezdilova |first1=Olga |title=Как Илья Репин изменил картину об Иване Грозном через 25 лет после ее создания |url=http://umbra.media/specproject/kak-ilya-repin-izmenil-kartinu-ob-ivane-groznom-cherez-25-let-posle-ee-sozdaniya/ |website=UMBRA |date=5 August 2017 |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=How Ilya Repin changed the painting about Ivan the Terrible 25 years after its creation}}</ref>
<gallery heights="180" caption="" widths="250" mode="packed">
Répine Ivan le Terrible et son fils ivan deuxième version 1909.jpg|''Filicide'' (1909).|alt=Another version of the table. Lighter colors.
Répine Ivan le Terrible et son fils Ivan deuxième version 1909 (détail).jpg|Detail of ''Filicide''.|alt=Detail of the painting. Color effects.
</gallery>
== Reception and initial censorship ==
In 1885, ''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'' was shown for the first time to Repin's painter friends, among whom were [[Ivan Kramskoi]], [[Ivan Shishkin]], [[Nikolai Yaroshenko]] and [[Pavel Brullov]]. According to Repin, his hosts were stunned and silent for a long time, waiting to see what Kramskoi would say:
{{blockquote|text=I was seized with a feeling of complete appreciation for Repin. There it is, the thing, what a level of talent ... And how it's painted, my God, how it's painted!&nbsp;... And what is this murder, carried out by a wild beast and a psychopath?&nbsp;... A father hits his son with his sceptre in the temple? One moment&nbsp;... He utters a cry of terror&nbsp;... He grabs him, he sits him on the ground, he raises him&nbsp;... He presses one of his hands on the wound in the temple (and blood gushes out of the cracks between the fingers)&nbsp;... and as he bawls&nbsp;... It's an animal, howling with fear&nbsp;... the very spot that the son has marked with his temple&nbsp;... Really, this scene is drowning us in half-light and a kind of natural tragic.|author=[[Ivan Kramskoi]]<ref name="tanais.info">{{cite web |title=Илья Репин. Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 |url=http://www.tanais.info/art/repin74more.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017001803/http://www.tanais.info/art/repin74more.html |archive-date=17 October 2013 |website=Tanais |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on 16 November 1581}}</ref>}}
The very conservative Attorney General of the Holy Synod [[Konstantin Pobedonostsev]] told [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]] of his "repulsion" and perplexity about the painting,<ref name="Pierre" /> which did not please the Tsar and his entourage, and on 1 April 1885, viewings of the painting were forbidden. It was the first painting to be censored in the Russian Empire,<ref name="tanais.info" /> and [[Pavel Tretyakov]], who bought it, was told "not to expose it, and more generally not to allow it to be brought to the attention of the public by any other means". The ban was lifted on 11 July 1885 after the intervention of the painter [[Alexey Bogolyubov]].<ref name="RepinSite2" /><ref name="tanais.info" />
== Vandalism and controversies ==
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Ivan the Terrible & son - destroyed.jpg
| caption1 = Damage to the painting from the 1913 attack
| image2 = Ivan the Terrible killing his son 2018 vandalism damage.jpg
| caption2 = Damage to the painting from the 2018 attack
}}
On 16 January 1913, ''Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan on 16 November 1581'' was slashed three times with a knife by a 29-year-old [[iconoclast]], son of the furniture maker [[Abram Balachov]]. The curator of the Tretyakov gallery {{ill|Georgy Khruslov|ru|Хруслов, Георгий Моисеевич}}, learning of the vandalism of the canvas, threw himself under a train.<ref name="scepsis.net">{{cite web |last1=Troitsky |first1=Nikolay |title=Культура: Искусство // Россия в XIX веке: Курс лекций |url=https://scepsis.net/library/id_1552.html#_ftnref12 |website=Scepsis |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Culture: Art // Russia in the 19th century: Course of Lectures}}</ref> The painting was restored almost to its original state with the help of Repin.<ref name="tanais.info" />
Some [[Russian nationalist]]s continue to protest the painting's exhibition because they believe it was painted as part of a foreign smear campaign and that the scene depicted is inaccurate.<ref name="theguardian">{{cite web |last1=Bodner |first1=Matthew |title=Ivan the Terrible painting 'seriously damaged' in pole attack |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/famous-russian-painting-of-ivan-the-terrible-seriously-damaged-in-pole-attack |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=18 November 2021 |date=27 May 2018}}</ref>
In October 2013, a group of Orthodox historians and activists, led by [[Vassili Boiko-Veliki]], an apologist and supporter of the canonization of Tsar Ivan, addressed the [[Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation|Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation]] [[Vladimir Medinsky]] to ask him to remove the canvas from the Tretyakov Gallery on the grounds it offends the patriotic feelings of Russians.<ref name="echo.msk">{{cite web |title=Православные активисты требуют убрать из Третьяковки картьяковки картину Репина |url=https://echo.msk.ru/news/1169794-echo.html |website=echo.msk.ru |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Orthodox activists demand that Repin's painting be removed from the Tretyakov Gallery}}</ref><ref name="theguardian" /> The director of the Tretyakov Gallery [[Irina Lebedeva]] formally opposed the request.<ref name="theguardian" />
In May 2018, the canvas was again attacked in the Tretyakov Gallery by a drunken visitor who broke its protective glass with a metal bar. The painting suffered serious damage; it was pierced in three places in the central part of the work, which depicts the figure of the tsarevich. The gallery said the frame was also badly damaged but that "by a happy coincidence" the most precious elements of the painting, the depiction of the figures' faces and hands, were not damaged. According to some Russian media, the vandal said he had attacked the painting because he thought the depiction was inaccurate.<ref name="theguardian" /> The attacker was imprisoned for two-and-a-half years.<ref name="rferl">{{cite web |title=Russian Sentenced For Vandalizing Iconic Painting Of Ivan The Terrible |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-sentenced-to-2-1-2-years-for-vandalizing-iconic-painting-of-ivan-the-terrible/29912342.html |website=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |access-date=26 November 2021 |date=30 April 2019}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'' remains one of Russia's most famous paintings, and the most psychologically intense of Repin's works.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite web |title='Ivan the Terrible' Painting Damaged in Russia in Vodka-Fueled Attack |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/27/world/europe/ivan-the-terrible-painting-attack.html |website=[[New York Times]] |access-date=26 November 2021 |date=27 May 2018}}</ref> The work appears briefly in the third episode of the 2019 [[HBO]] miniseries ''[[Chernobyl (miniseries)|Chernobyl]]''.<ref name="Chernobyl">{{cite web |title=Chernobyl |url=https://www.artpapers.org/chernobyl/ |date=17 July 2019 |website=Art Papers |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref>
== Subject of the painting and historiography ==
The Tsarevich Ivan's death had grave consequences for Russia, since it left no competent heir to the throne. After the Tsar's death in 1584, his unprepared son [[Feodor I]] succeeded him with [[Boris Godunov]] as ''de facto'' ruler. After Feodor's death, Russia entered a period of political uncertainty, famine and war known as the [[Time of Troubles]].<ref>"Britannica - Fyodor I". ''Encyclopedia Britannica''.</ref>
The details of the Tsarevich's death are unknown and controversial. The Tsarevich died in 1581 in the [[Alexandrov Kremlin]], the residence of Tsar [[Ivan the Terrible]] from 1564 to 1581, and the centre of his [[oprichnina]] and ''de facto'' capital of the [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]].<ref>{{cite book | last1=Perrie | first1=Maureen | last2=Pavlov | first2=Andrei | title=Ivan the Terrible | publisher=Taylor and Francis | publication-place=Hoboken | date=2014 | isbn=978-1-317-89468-1 | oclc=884014235}}</ref>
=== In contemporary Russian chronicles and sources ===
In a letter addressed to [[Nikita Romanovich|Nikita Zakharin]] and [[Vasily and Andrey Shchelkalov#Andrey Yakovlevich Shchelkalov|Andrey Shchelkalov]] in 1581, Ivan the Terrible wrote; "[he] cannot go to Moscow because of [his] son's illness" without identifying the illness.<ref name="Likhachyov">{{cite book |language=ru |last=Likhachyov |first=Nikolay |author-link=Nikolay Likhachyov |title = Дело о приезде в Москву А. Поссевино |trans-title =The case of A. Possevino's arrival in Moscow |page = 58 |place = Saint Petersburg |date = 1903 |isbn = |url=https://viewer.rusneb.ru/ru/rsl01003714039?page=58&rotate=0&theme=white }}</ref> Several contemporary Russian chronicles mention the Tsarevich's death without providing any details.<ref name="MoscowChronicle">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Московский летописец |encyclopedia=[[Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles]] |accessdate=18 November 2021 |year=1978 |volume=34 |location=Moscow |language=russian |trans-title=Moscow chronicle |url=http://www.russiancity.ru/books/b60.htm |page=228}}</ref> According to the Piskarevsk Chronicle, the death occurred at midnight. None of these chronicles suggest the death of Ivan Ivanovich was violent.<ref name="Piskarevsk">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Пискаревский летописец |encyclopedia=[[Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles]] |accessdate=18 November 2021 |year=1978 |volume=34 |location=Moscow |url=http://www.russiancity.ru/books/b61.htm |page=195 |language=ru |trans-title=Piskarevsky chronicle}}</ref> Other sources provide a more-detailed version of the death, saying the Tsarevich was mortally wounded by his father during an argument. One of these sources, the {{ill|Mazurin chronicle|ru|Мазуринский летописец}}, reports the following:<ref name="Mazurin">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Мазуринский летописец |encyclopedia=[[Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles]] |accessdate=18 November 2021 |year=1978 |volume=31 |location=Moscow |url=http://psrl.csu.ru/toms/Tom_31.shtml |page=142 |language=ru |trans-title=Mazurin chronicle}}</ref>
{{blockquote|In the summer of 1581, it was from the Sovereign Emperor and Grand Prince Ivan Vassilievitch, that his son, his greatness Prince Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, shining with wise meaning and grace and separated from the branch of life by a blade, received evil, and from this evil, he died.<ref name="Mazurin" />}}
The sources indicate the event took place on 14 November 1581 and that the Tsarevich would have died on 19 November, but the dates reported vary. The diary of the ''[[Dyak (clerk)|dyak]]'' (clerk) {{ill|Ivan Timofeev|ru|Семёнов, Иван Тимофеевич}} says; "some say (of the Tsarevich) that his life was extinguished because of blows by the hands of his father, after trying to prevent him from committing an ugly act".<ref name="vremen">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mELRAAAAMAAJ |title=Временник Ивана Тимофеева |publisher=Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences |author=Timofeev Ivan |year=1951 |trans-title=Annals of Ivan Timofeev |page=182}}</ref>
=== Foreign testimonies ===
Contemporaneous foreign sources are more eloquent; [[Jacques Margeret]], a French mercenary captain in service in Russia, wrote; "there is a rumour that he (the tsar) killed the eldest (son) with his own hand, which wasn't the case, because, although he struck him with the end of the rod and he was wounded by a blow, he did not die from this, but some time later, on a pilgrimage journey".<ref name="Margeret">{{cite book |url=https://www.prlib.ru/item/450931 |title=Состояние Российской империи и Великого княжества Московского |year=1986 |location=Leningrad |trans-title=State of the Russian State and the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1606 |language=ru |last1=Jacques |first1=Margeret | last2=Nikolaevich |first2=Ilya |author1-link=Jacques Margeret |page=232 }}</ref>
Another version is reported by the papal diplomat [[Antonio Possevino]]. According to him, in November 1581 in the Alexandrov Kremlin, Ivan the Terrible found his daughter-in-law Helen lying on a bench in undergarments.{{efn|The female dress of this period usually consisted of two undergarments, the bottom, the shirt, and the top, the dress. The shirt was a garment for domestic use, and it was considered very improper to appear to strangers in it, especially in front of men.<ref name="Zabelin">{{cite book |title=Домашний быт русских цариц в XVI-XVII столетиях |author=Zabelin Ivan |author1-link=Ivan Zabelin |year=1901 |location=Moscow |isbn=978-5-373-07405-6 |trans-title=Household life of Russian queens in the XVI-XVII centuries |language=ru |page=515 }}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|text=The third wife of Ivan's son was laying on a bench, dressed in underwear. She was pregnant and didn't expect anyone to visit her. However, the Grand Prince of Moscow (Ivan the Terrible) paid her an unexpected visit. She immediately stood up to meet him, but it was already impossible to calm him down. He hit her in the face, and then beat her with his staff, punching her so hard that she lost her child the next night.
His son Ivan then ran to his father and asked him not to beat his wife, but this only made his father angrier. The Prince started hitting his son with his staff, which resulted in a very serious wound in the head. Before that, in anger at his father, the son hotly reproached him in the following words:
"You imprisoned my first wife in a convent for no reason, you did the same with my second wife, and now you are beating up the third in order to kill the child she carries in her womb." Having injured his son, the father immediately indulged in deep grief and immediately summoned doctors and Andrei Shchelkalov and Nikita Romanovich from Moscow to have everything at hand. On the fifth day, the son died and was transferred to Moscow.
|author=Antonio Possevino
|source=''Historical writings about Russia in the 16th century''<ref name="Possevino">{{cite book |last1=Possevino |first1=Antonio |author1-link=Antonio Possevino |title=Исторические сочинения о России XVI в |date=1983 |publisher=Moscow University Publishing House |location=Moscow |url=http://krotov.info/acts/16/possevino/041.html |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=ru |trans-title=Historical writings about Russia in the 16th century}}</ref>}}
=== Stories by Russian historians ===
18th-century Russian historian [[Nikolay Karamzin]] also believed the Tsarevich died because of his father but under different circumstances.<ref name="Karamzin">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Продолжение царстования Иоанна Грозного. Г. 1577–1582 |encyclopedia=History of the Russian State |author=Karamzin, Nikolay | volume=9 |author-link=Nikolay Karamzin |language=ru |trans-title=Continuation of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. 1577–1582 |chapter=9}}</ref>
{{blockquote
|text=He (Ivan the Terrible) put his hand on him (Tsarevich). [[Boris Godunov]] wanted to come to his aid but the Tsar inflicted several wounds to him with the point of his [[sceptre]] and struck the Tsarevich with it on the head. He then fell to the ground, spilling his blood. The father's fury disappeared. Paling with fear, trembling, in complete shock, he exclaimed "I killed my son" and he threw himself down to kiss him; pouring out the blood flowing from a deep wound, he wept, sobbed, called for the doctors. He implored the mercy of God and the forgiveness of his son.
|author=Nikolay Karamzin}}
Repin relied on Karamzin's story to paint ''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581'', one of the most-striking paintings of his [[chrestomathy]].<ref name="Tretyakov">{{cite web |last=Yudenkova |first=Tatyana |title='I love variety...' Ilya Repin's Indefatigable Novelty Across Time and Genre |url=https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/1-2019-62/i-love-variety-ilya-repin-indefatigable-novelty-across-time-and-genre |website=[[Tretyakov Gallery]] |access-date=18 November 2021 |date=2019 }}</ref> Russian imperial historian [[Mikhail Shcherbatov]], who studied the different versions of Ivan Ivanovich's death, considers Possevino's version the most plausible<ref name="Shcherbatov">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=История Российская с древнейших времен |accessdate=18 November 2021 | author=Shcherbatov, Mikhail |year=1789 |volume=5 |chapter-url=https://www.runivers.ru/upload/iblock/3eb/sherbatov%20-%20istoriya5-3.pdf |chapter=3 |pages=120–126 |author-link=Mikhail Shcherbatov }}</ref> and the Russian imperial historian [[Vasily Klyuchevsky]] called it the only reliable version.<ref name="Klyuchevsky">{{cite book |last1=Klyuchevsky |first1=Vasily |author1-link=Vasily Klyuchevsky |title=Курс русской истории |language=ru |trans-title=A History of Russia |location=Saint Petersburg}}</ref>
== Notes and references ==
=== Explanatory notes ===
{{Notelist}}
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}
=== General and cited references ===
* {{Cite book |last1=Yarmolinsky |first1=Avrahm |author-link=Avrahm Yarmolinsky |title=[[Road to Revolution: A Century of Russian Radicalism]] |year=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-63854-6}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Kel'ner |first1=Viktor Efimovich |title=1 marta 1881 goda: Kazn imperatora Aleksandra II (1 марта 1881 года: Казнь императора Александра II) |year=2015 |publisher=Lenizdat |isbn=978-5-289-01024-7}}
== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* {{Cite web|language=ru |author=Ольга Лясковская |author-mask=Ольга Лясковская (Olga Lyaskovskaya)|title=К истории создания картины И. Е. Репина «Иван Грозный и сын его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года» |trans-title=On the history of the painting by I.E. Repin "''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581''" |url=https://cont.ws/@nikkuro/186559 |website=cont.ws |date= |access-date=18 November 2021}}
* {{Cite web|language=ru |author=Алена Эсаулова |author-mask=Алена Эсаулова (Alena Esaulova) |title=Илья Ефимович Репин – «Иван Грозный и его сын Иван 16 ноября 1581 года» |trans-title=Ilya Efimovich Repin – "''Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581''" |url=https://artchive.ru/artists/567~Ilja_Efimovich_Repin/works/294983~Ivan_Groznyj_i_ego_syn_Ivan_16_nojabrja_1581_godadate= |access-date=18 November 2021}}
{{Ilya Repin}}
[[Category:1885 paintings]]
[[Category:Collection of the Tretyakov Gallery]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ivan the Terrible]]
[[Category:History paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings about death]]
[[Category:Paintings by Ilya Repin]]
[[Category:Vandalized works of art in Russia]]