The mystery of an Ilya Repin reproduction in Baroda
How did a smaller reproduction of the Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks end up in the possession of the Baroda Royal Family?
When I visited Baroda (or Vadodara as it is called now) last week, one of my main goals was to see two Nicholas Roerich original paintings that were in the possession of the city’s main museum. The great writer, philosopher and artist’s paintings immediately catch the eye when one enters the picture gallery section of the Baroda Museum. There is one image that depicts a scene from the Indian epic Ramayana and another painting is of Mount Kanchenjunga.
What I did not expect to see in the museum, which has the finest collection of European art in India, was the image of Zaporozhian Cossacks laughing as they wrote a letter to Turkish Sultan Mehmed IV. While the museum has clearly labelled its reproductions, for some reason this painting did not carry that label. I have seen the original, a masterpiece of Russian realist painter Ilya Repin that took 11 years to complete. The painting, which was unveiled to the public in 1891 is now on display at the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg. It is enormous: 2.03 metre by 3.58 metres.
The reproduction in Baroda is smaller and the colours look much softer, if that’s the right term. When I asked a young man working in the museum if he knew anything about the painting, he directed me to the friendly curator, who also did not know much about this painting. The museum, though maintained well, is woefully understaffed, with most of its employees working on a contract basis.
The curator was kind enough to show me the catalogue, which said the reproduction measured 104 by 176 cms. The painting was procured from Russia, but there is some uncertainty about the date of acquisition. The catalogue mentions 1921 with 1945 in brackets. Unfortunately the curator could explain what this meant. The value of the painting was written as Rs 250,000. The entry was made in the 1960s, so the value now must be in millions of dollars.
This has left me wondering as to how the then Maharaja of Baroda acquired this painting. Could a Russian emigre have sold the painting to the Maharaja in Europe? A large number of people who opposed the USSR had emigrated to Paris and other parts of Europe after the fall of the Tsarist regime. What made the painting this valuable? Repin lived the last 12 years of his life (1918-30) in Finland, but he did not reproduce his own masterpiece. It is a known fact though that several full-size reproductions of this painting exist, including one by Repin’s student Pavel Porfirov, now in the possession of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Did Porfirov also produce the copy that is Baroda?
The mystery of this painting and its journey to Baroda from Russia is something that I will make an attempt to uncover in 2022.
Letter Exchange (Reader discretion advised)
I won’t go into the details of the painting, but here is the letter that the Turkish Sultan wrote to the Cossacks.
“As the Sultan; Son of Muhammad; brother of the Sun and Moon; Grandson and Viceroy of God; Ruler of the Kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; Emperor of Emperors; Sovereign of Sovereigns; Extraordinary Knight, Never Defeated; Steadfast Guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; Trustee chosen by God Himself; The Hope and Comfort of Muslims; Confounder and Great Defender of Christians – I command you, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks.
And here is their reply:
O Sultan, Turkish Devil and Damned Devil’s Kith and Kin, Secretary to Lucifer himself. What the Devil kind of Knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The Devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, f**k thy mother. Thou Babylonian Scullion, Macedonian Wheelwright, Brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fu**er of Alexandria, Swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Pig of Armenia, Podolian thief, Catamite of Tartary, Hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig’s snout, mare’s arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother!
Hello, Ajay Kamalakaran,
I just saw your article about Sri Sri.
My late father Alexander (Rapoport) Golemba translated it, from a "podstrochnik", you surely know the meaning. He was not really fluent in Jiddish, (in some other languages - yes), and was not an epidemiologist either.
My late mother Maya was one.
He did work in a military hospital in the 1952-54 for a while, before being put into a psychiatric one, to save him from the KGB.
I was helping him in his work since I was fourteen, and looking after him in 1978-79 when he was very ill and dying, - not his wife, she was "too busy" pleasing the authorities there.
They seemed to have given you plenty of daft pro-Soviet info in Moscow.
I can guess, who that "well-informed" person was.
You were a welcomed guest there, it is very clear. Good for you.
I was born, educated, worked and lived there, a witness in a pagan world.
I became a dissident, a refusenic amongst the faithful Russian souls, millions of them.
What do you really know?! What are your sources?
Alik Golemba has died destitute, terrorised. I was his only chiId, he wanted to die in peace on my hands. That Russian loving, loyal to the poweres to be Maya dragged him into a psychiatric hospital, again, against his will, for no reason, as I was getting ''his'' translation, done by me to the editors.
And, to cut down the German translations concurence, I was put out of work for ten years.
Alone, with a little child on my hands. Lev Ginsburg (Teni v adu) and his daughter are responsible.
Without any support, I was abused, raped, mugged, geered at in that wonderful USSR since 1979.
I finally managed to run away to the UK, in 1986.
My only daughter was kept a hostage by Moscow authorities, to ensure my return. I risked my life to go back, get her out. That could be a thriller. I got us both out in 1988.
I was tracked by the same ex-soviet, "new" Russian gang in the West, since the 1990, and still am.
My only daughter was kept a hostage by Moscow authorities, to ensure my return.
Russian soul? Find a book Black Hen and the other stories by the Russian writers compiled by V.Muraviov (a seriously spooked descendent of the Dekabrist Muraviov), - please, do.
Anna Bakhnova, that was me. I did not hate the Russians then.
Now I despise them. The whole of the is culture is one huge lie, as it was mainly created by their victims.
I was not supposed to be allowed work at all, but a true good soul, a Russian friend of my Jewish friends who have all left by then, gave me that commission in secret. We only showed it in when I completed the whole set of illustrations. I was all but killed for that.
Just after Alik Golemba died, as he wanted, on my hands, but we were not allowed to be in the house, it just has to be an official hospital, with a botched, unnecessary operation, peritonite, lack of oxigen, stolen medications, and every medical care provided by myself, as it was filthy, rude, unprofessional. Maya was howling, but did not help at all there.
She was scared out of her wits, since her Chechen father Akhmetkhan Mutushev was killed, and her mother, a non-religious Jewish doctor, was exiled for fifteen years to Bashkiria. I remember that very well. My first memories of a 2 ysr old. visiting her there; a winter-land alike doctor Jhivago!
You really have no clue, sorry!
You must be in support of the very "special operation" now?
Alik Golemba was born in Kharkiv.
I was sent there as a baby, started to walk and talk there with my Jewish grandparents:
Solomon and Vera Rapoport. ALL the problems were from the soviets, not from the Ukrainians!
I remember the farmers Holodomor survivors, returning from exile and Gulags, dying on streets of hunger. I was about six.
It is simply horrendous what they have done everywhere, your Russian souls.
How could you justify any of that?!
How could you claim that you have a Russian soul?
There is nothing good there anymore.
There is death and hate, destruction and oppression, fear and jealousy, greed and lies.
67% of the whole population believe the crazy propaganda and a willing to kill everyone in Ukraine.
Shame on you and your friends there!
They will be made to pay for their crimes against humanity.
Tell them that: "We will not forgive. We will never forget!"
Anya (Rapoport) Lauchlan - Artist painter/illustrator
Google the name for more info.
You may contact me, via Twitter
@lauchlan_anya