material: oil on canvas
dimensions: 90 × 224 cm
description: Matejko probably took an interest in the figure of Ivan the Terrible under the influence of the book Prince Serebrenni. A Historical Novel of the Times of Ivan the Terrible by Aleksey Tolstoy, published in the magazine “Kłosy” in 1870–1871. In 1875, he painted a picture illustrating the cruellest period in the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. Suppressing the boyar opposition with the help of the specially selected military units called oprichniks, the tsar murdered about one hundred thousand of his subjects. The painting shows a scene of the death procession of boyar Mikhail Yakovlevich Morozov, the voivode and governor of Livonia. At the head of the procession, next to the tsar, one can see the metropolitan of Moscow – Lewta. A boy carrying the opened Gospel is walking before him. They are followed by, among others, the tsarina and one of the leaders of the Oprichnina known for his extreme cruelty – Malyuta Skuratov-Belskiy, who is holding the death sentence in his left hand and pointing with it at the destination of the procession – the gallows visible on the horizon. He is looking at Morozov, dressed in humiliating, clownish clothes, exposed to ridicule, following the representatives of the court. A raven sitting in front of the boyar, a howling dog and the gallows with hanged men in the background explicitly suggest the fate of the condemned man, imposed on him by the ruthless tyrant. Barbara Ciciora
exposition: The Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice,
The Cloth Hall, 1, Main Market Square
key: Around the academy >>>
dimensions: 90 × 224 cm
description: Matejko probably took an interest in the figure of Ivan the Terrible under the influence of the book Prince Serebrenni. A Historical Novel of the Times of Ivan the Terrible by Aleksey Tolstoy, published in the magazine “Kłosy” in 1870–1871. In 1875, he painted a picture illustrating the cruellest period in the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible. Suppressing the boyar opposition with the help of the specially selected military units called oprichniks, the tsar murdered about one hundred thousand of his subjects. The painting shows a scene of the death procession of boyar Mikhail Yakovlevich Morozov, the voivode and governor of Livonia. At the head of the procession, next to the tsar, one can see the metropolitan of Moscow – Lewta. A boy carrying the opened Gospel is walking before him. They are followed by, among others, the tsarina and one of the leaders of the Oprichnina known for his extreme cruelty – Malyuta Skuratov-Belskiy, who is holding the death sentence in his left hand and pointing with it at the destination of the procession – the gallows visible on the horizon. He is looking at Morozov, dressed in humiliating, clownish clothes, exposed to ridicule, following the representatives of the court. A raven sitting in front of the boyar, a howling dog and the gallows with hanged men in the background explicitly suggest the fate of the condemned man, imposed on him by the ruthless tyrant. Barbara Ciciora
exposition: The Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice,
The Cloth Hall, 1, Main Market Square
key: Around the academy >>>