Tanais Gallery
Vasily Vereshchagin.
"Wait! Let' em come nearer!" (Don't hurry! Let them approach!)
1887-1895.
Oil on canvas. 198 x 149.
The State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia.
Napoleon in Russia
The moment shown on this picture by the artist concerns to the very important thing that was called "the people's war" and played the big role in the campaign.
You can see a thick forest buried with snow where it was possible to find the way only for a very skilled person. A small group of peasants hid there. In front of them there is a tall old man with a distinctive look of his very Russian page. Perhaps he is the starosta (village headman) of a nearest village that was elected the commander by the village inhabitants. They noticed a French detachment on the road
What are they waiting for? The starosta knows his business well, he is an experienced hunter that has many times hunted a bear having only a single boar-spear in his hands, and he knows well if they let the enemy appoach as close as it possible, they will be able strike a blow more effectively.
... And the French are coming nearer, they just do not know what is hidden under the huge branches covered with snow...
And there some the most impatient ones are already ready to rush to the attack, but the starosta says: "Don't hurry! Let them approach!"
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