Volga Svyatoslavovich was part of a set of panels created by Nicholas Roerich for the Bazhanov apartment in St Petersburg. This monumental work conjures up the legendary past of Rus – impenetrable forests, hilly landscapes beneath stormy skies, golden seas in the distance and gallant knights galloping to defend their native land. The artist recreates a scene from the days of yore, when people lived in harmony with their fellow men and God. Whenever danger threatened, all the natural elements – sun, moon, wind, forests and mountains – came to the help of the intrepid national heroes. A straight road would suddenly bend or become overgrown with a forest, blocking the path of the enemy. The simple archaic forms masterly convey the atmosphere of the historical past. Devices employed in ancient miniatures and such icons as The Battle of the Novgorodians and the Suzdalites are employed in this image of Volga Svyatoslavovich and his cavalry.

Roerich Nicholas

Roerich, Nicholas (Nikolai Konstantinovich)
1874, St Petersburg -7, Kullu (India)
Painter, theatrical designer, writer. Studied under Arkhip Kuindzhi at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1893-97), Faculty of Law, St Petersburg University (1893-98) and Fernand Cormon''s studio in Paris (1900-01). Academician of painting (1909). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1895). Contributed to the exhibitions of the World of Art (1902, 1903, 191 1-17; founding member 1910; chairman 1910-13), Union of Russian Artists ( 1903-10; member from 1903), Salon d''Automne (1906, 1907; member from 1906), Exposition Universelle in Paris (1900), World Exhibition in St Louis (1904), International Exhibitions in Munich (1909), Rome (1911, 1914) and Malmo (1914) and the Exhibitions of Russian Art in Paris (1906-08), Berlin (1906) and Vienna (1908). Director of the School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1906-16). Designed for theatres in Moscow and St Petersburg and Sergei Diaghilev''s Saisons Russes (from 1907). Emigrated (1918). Settled in Kullu in India (1928).