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Murder of Tsarevich Dimitry in Uglich
Pleshanov Pavel,
Oil on paper.
38,2 х 42
State Russian Museum
Пост.: 1928 из АХ
Annotation
Many mysteries and legends surround the death of Dimitry, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, and the most popular of them is the story of his deliberate murder. Dimitry died in Uglich on 15 May 1591. According to the testimony of eyewitnesses, on this particular day he was playing with a knife by throwing the sharpened blade into the ground. The Tsarevich suddenly had an epileptic fit during which he fell onto the blade and “stabbed” himself with it. Hearing shouts, the Tsarina ran out into the courtyard and saw her only son lying dead. The investigative commission sent by Godunov established the death as being accidental. Pavel Pleshanov uses the expressiveness of poses and gestures to reveal the grief of the participants.
Author's Biography
Pleshanov Pavel
Pleshanov, Pavel Fyodorovich
1829, Rostov – 1882, St Petersburg
Painter, portraitist and creator of paintings on religious and historical subjects. Son of a merchant. Studied at the St Petersburg Commercial College and the Imperial Academy of Arts (under Fyodor Bruni). Awarded a minor gold medal and a title of the artist of the third degree (1854) for The Prophet Elisha Raising the Widow of Zarephath’s Son. Academician (1857) for Grand Prince Ivan the Terrible and Priest Sylvester. Professor (1869) for Murder of TsarevichDimitryinUglich. Executed paintings after his studies for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Assistant of the head of the mosaic department at the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1878).