Before you - four canvases on historical themes, looking at which, you need to remember the expression "do not believe your eyes."
"Suvorov's Crossing the Alps" by Vasily Surikov
So, let's start with the now popular Suvorov. The passage of troops across the Saint Gotthard Pass during the 1799 Swiss campaign is a historical fact. The painting was painted for the centenary of this event, for which the artist was even awarded the Order of St. Vladimir. However, the mistake was pointed out to him almost immediately.
Soldiers perform a difficult mountain crossing without disrupting the line of the formation (which is physically hardly possible in the mountains). At the same time, bayonets are screwed onto the rifles during the marching march. Take a closer look at what the rear ranks would have run up against if the hike had really gone like this?
Naturally, if we were not talking about a melee attack, the bayonets were removed from the rifles.
Promotional video:
"Heroes" by Viktor Vasnetsov
The military history theme is generally a well-known "ambush" for artists, especially when it comes to legendary material. Viktor Vasnetsov painted his picture for more than twenty years, but at the same time he flattered his heroes very much.
We will not discuss now whether the historical characters Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich, whether their activities date back to the time of Vladimir the Baptist, or whether "Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko" also included the features of Vladimir Monomakh (there is also such a version). In any case, in the depiction of heroes, the artist was incredibly generous.
All three heroes Vasnetsov dressed up in metal armor. However, such samples of weapons came to Russia most often from the Middle East through Europe, or through the Mongol-Tatars. This could have happened not earlier than the XIII century, or even much later. Alyosha Popovich, in his plate chain mail, resembles a Turkish janissary of the fifteenth century that way.
A separate issue is the horses of the heroes. In the powerful horse of Ilya Muromets, the features of a heavy truck are clearly visible. However, in Russia, the breed of heavy trucks was registered only at the end of the 19th century. The Ardennes breed from Belgium has similar features, but even that modern power gained in the eighteenth century.
Alyosha Popovich's trousers of different colors are a bonus for an attentive viewer. By the way, wearing clothes made of such expensive fabrics under chain mail is an inexplicable wastefulness.
"After the slaughter of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsy" Viktor Vasnetsov
We continue the theme of ancient Russia and historical blunders.
Even contemporaries said about "After the Massacre" that "Vasnetsov wrote not a picture, but an opera," - the battlefield is so beautifully and poetically depicted on it.
Certain moments (for example, the "scarlet shields" of the Russian squad) are borrowed directly from "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", but trouble still happened to the historical truth. We will keep silent about the late plate armor this time, we will have enough reasons for conversation without them.
The central place in the composition is occupied by the body of the young and beautiful Rostislav Vsevolodovich with an arrow in his heart. Let's leave aside the question of whether an arrow could pierce such a chain mail, and how it overtook the prince in close combat (who walked with swords). There is a much more interesting moment.
The death of Rostislav is indeed mentioned in the "Lay of the Regiment" - in a lyrical digression, where the author, reflecting on the strife, lists almost all the Russian princes who died in half a century. The problem is that Rostislav died not in the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich (where he was not at all), but in the battle of Stugna in 1093. Moreover, the prince did not die on the battlefield - he drowned in the river, retreating from the battlefield.
As a bonus, we can say that in Ancient Russia the scene depicted by Vasnetsov could not exist at all. As we remember, many participants in Igor's clash with the Polovtsy survived. So, leaving the battlefield, the winners had to remove all the armor from the dead - simply because the weapon was considered the legitimate trophy of the winners. In ancient times, such expensive things were not scattered, and after a small repair, the armor sometimes served more than one generation of new owners with faith and truth.
And then we wonder why we can’t find the places of ancient battles, and where the Arabic script on the “helmet of Alexander Nevsky” from the Armory came from.
"Meeting of Svyatoslav with the Byzantine emperor Tzimiskes on the banks of the Danube" by Claudius Lebedev
And finally, one more plot. The painting by Klavdiy Lebedev was created in the 1880s, but very little is known here. And for good reason. Before us is just the apotheosis of historical mistakes.
Curiously, Prince Svyatoslav is depicted here exactly in accordance with historical documents. This is exactly how - with a forelock and an earring in the ear - that Greek historians described him. It was many centuries ago, so one can hardly suspect them of involvement in modern historical conflicts.
Actually, some details of the painting Klavdiy Lebedev conscientiously borrowed from the description of Lev the Deacon - both the prince's forelock, and his white shirt, and the fact that Svyatoslav himself sat at the oars. However, it is hardly possible to imagine that the mise-en-scene depicted in the picture took place in reality.
Otherwise, we will have to admit that the Byzantine Basileus not only walked along the banks of the Danube in a marching, but nevertheless ceremonial attire, but also stood, like a schoolboy, in front of a small northern neighbor, who was sitting at the meeting, and even with his back to the emperor.
In spite of all the numerous conflicts with the Greeks in the Byzantine ceremonies, the Russians still understood. And the Greeks understood them without a doubt.
Daria Mendeleeva