Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks

Cossacks gather around a table to compose a mocking reply to the sultan. Repin drew on the tradition of their defiant letter; the painting should be understood as an artistic treatment of a legend. His first sketch dates from 1878. He then studied the Sich, travelled in Ukraine and gathered material for the large canvas.

At the centre, the scribe bends over a sheet with a quill. Historian Dmytro Yavornytsky posed for this figure. A contemporary scholar of the Cossack past thus became a participant in its painted reconstruction. The letter occupies little space; the surrounding faces, gestures and bodies give it importance.

Above the scribe sits a man with a pipe, identified by the museum as Ataman Ivan Sirko. Repin developed him from studies of General Mikhail Dragomirov. Portrait observation serves a historical role: the participant acquires the particularity of a living face although he represents someone from another period.

On the right, a man in red throws back his head with his mouth wide open. His white hat and broad colour area make the gesture conspicuous. Others laugh differently, squinting, bending or showing their teeth. Varied expressions suggest shared amusement without repeating identical faces or poses.

A bare-backed Cossack sits at the near edge of the table. His shoulder and elbow obscure some participants, while his turned head redirects attention to the scribe. Foreground figures face away from us, suggesting a position at the gathering’s edge, where the letter emerges amid closely crowded bodies.

Spears, poles and a raised hat appear above the heads, extending the group’s movement upwards and recalling its military setting. The distant camp is handled more softly than foreground figures. This difference can be read as a distribution of attention: armed conflict remains part of the story while the immediate event unfolds around the table.

Alexander III acquired the painting, which hung in the Winter Palace until its transfer to the Russian Museum in 1897. This complicates a familiar reading of Cossack independence: its image entered an imperial collection. The work invites discussion of how a legend of defiance becomes a national history painting recognised by different audiences.