Repin rarely painted historical paintings. The most popular in this genre is Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581
and
The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV.
One of Repin's most complex paintings, The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV.
occupied many years of his life. He conceived this painting as a study in laughter, but also believed that it involved the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity; in short, Cossack republicanism, in this particular case, Ukrainian Cossack republicanism. Begun in the late 1870s, it was only completed in 1891, and, ironically, was immediately purchased by the Tsar. The Tsar paid 35,000 rubles for the painting, an enormous amount for that time.
The faithfully rendered spirit of the Zaporozhian freemen, who, according to the artist, had a particularly strong sense of "liberty, equality and fraternity" undoubtedly gives the picture its power. The contemporaries saw it as a symbol of the Russian people throwing off their chains.
