Repin depicts here how the tsar Ivan the Terrible in an attack of rage killed his only son causing the end of the old Rurik Dynasty. Ivan was already old then (1581) his foreign policy and a lot of his interior reforms had failed and he saw himself surrounded by traitors.Repin didn’t focus here on the mighty ruler, he shows a mad man who felt victim to his uncontrolled tempers, a mad man holding his broken dreams.
Especially for patriotic Russians the death of Ivan’s son was a disaster because it marked the beginning of the Time of Troubles a long period when Russia was invaded by foreign armies and torn by civil wars.
Reely liked the painting.
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