And I will now going to munch one, two, many pieces of the beautiful cake that Marion baked ...

And this evening also a large portion of fresh Asparagus - bööörrrps - now I'm feeling like this...

Beautiful work on the kaftan Martin.

Cheers,
Andrew

And better, and better... Masterclass!

It really unfolds majestically this work of yours,not to mention that your powers of elaboration bring this presentation to life even more.

Oda.

39. Day, April 30, 2018

The second hand ...:






One finger I left out when painting.

We will come to that tomorrow ...

Cheers

Yep, and there's another interesting story behind it - for me anyway...!

That's pretty likely, Kev!

I've already built such a saber (it's a certain Ottoman type called "Karabela", what means "Black Death") eight years ago in 90mm scale ...:



Of course, I kept the necessary historical documents for that. The bust will not be relocated, but I'll probably decorate the base with it ...

Yep, when I'll finished the hands it's up to the sash.


Cheers

40. Day, Mai 1, 2018


The May Day has brought us rain, cold (currently 11 degrees, 12:57 clock) and storm with 10 wind forces, in gusts 11, and outside so all sorts of flying around in the area.

Best weather to go on painting!


On his ring finger of the right hand, "Artjom" visibly wears a bandage, or a cloth or leather rag wrapped around his finger and knotted with string ...:




It does not seem to be a fresh wound (no blood can be seen!) But more to protect an already elderly wound.

Maybe a piece of the finger is missing or it is stiff due to an earlier wound, or ...

One can speculate very well!

It is interesting, first of all, that on all of the sketches, drawings and studies created before the large painting, this bandage is missing or invisible.

At the very beginning, when Repin started to work on his picture, "Artjom" should look like this - without a fur cap, without a kaftan and a coat, with a bleached thimble, on which only the typical individual crest bell worn by all Zaporozhian Cossacks could be seen. ..:






As Repin's designs became more concrete, he put "Artjom" on his papacha and gave him his clothes ...:




In the first two pictures he painted of the famous scene (now in Kharkiv and Minsk), "Artjom" is even more on the edge of the scene - in one version his right hand is hidden ...:



In the second version, "Artjom" is already quite in the center and put his right hand a colleagu on the shoulder - but of a bandage is again nothing to see ...:



Why does this bandage appear in the grand final version?

Nothing happened by chance on the picture, everything is planned exactly, "through-composed" - and full of allusions to the circle of friends and acquaintances of the painter.

The two friends of Ilya Repin, who are considered as possible role models of Artyom, the journalist and writer Vladimir Alexeyevich Giljarowski (former research) ...



... and the director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Aleksandr Ivanovich Rubez (current research) ...



... both had no such bandage!


But another close friend of Repin had one, as you can see here ...:



And that was the sculptor and engineer Mikhail Ivanovich Mikeshin!

**continued next post**

Mikeshin was a contemporary of Repin and a very well known man in Russia at the time!

He created the famous "Monument of Millennial Russia", which stands in the city of Velikije Novgorod ("Great Novgorod" and not to be confused with the city of Nizhny Novgorod!) South of St Petersburg ...:

The huge cast bronze monument was inaugurated on September 8, 1862, by Tsar Akelsandr II.





It resembles the legendary "Cap of Monomach", a fur-trimmed cap crowned with the ancient Russian tsars ...



... and shows the history of Russia from the Christianization to the modern age on the basis of many (over-) life-size figures ...:



In 1926, the Bolsheviks around Lenin ordered to destroy their unwelcome monument - but the local communists in Velikije Novgorod secretly resisted this order and "hid" the monument under a wooden shed that served as a rostrum ...:



Serious danger threatened the monument only when on August 15, 1941 the Hitler-Wehrmacht occupied Novgorod.

Kurt Herzog, the Commanding General of XXXVII. Army Corps ...



... which belonged to the siege forces around Leningrad, ordered to dismantle the monument and to transport the items as trophies to Germany.

Somewhat hasty, as we know today.

In December 1943, the Germans then began to saw the monument.

When soldiers of the Red Army re-conquered the city on January 20, 1944, they found the monument as follows:





In the meantime even the clique around Stalin knew the identity-building value of the monument - and so they began during the war with the restoration and reconstruction.

In the mid-90s, I was reverently standing in front of it ...:



Ilya Repin and Mikhail Mikeshin were good friends - and Repin left a big portrait of him (Tretyakov Gallery) ...:



**continued next post**

The bandage that Artjom wears is a hidden allusion to a good friend of the painter!

I have painted the bandage - as in the picture - in a color that is quite similar to the color of the skin, and has only some decided greens in addition.

This time I took acrylics again - and this one ...:




And so are the hands ready now...:

















Cheers

Your attention to detail is phenomenal.

Looks great Martin.......Isn't it nice when you find a piece that you can really sink your teeth into and take your time with and just enjoy the process?

Wayne

@Wayne: Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!

----------------------------------------------

41. Day, Mai, 2, 2018


Now we come to the sash that our friend wraps around his belly!



Ilja Repin only shows that the thing is gold-worked - but he does not show a concrete pattern - as with the kaftan and the shirt - again.

The sash could also be of Ottoman origin ...





... but I do not believe that!


Who in the 17th century in the wilderness of the "wild field", in the arc of tension between the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Empire of the Tartars, the newly forming Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Federation (then the most dominant power!) researches for golden sashes, sooner or later (sooner!) will come across the Name of the City of Sluzk!

Nowadays located in Belarus, the city belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian empire in the 17th century...:



And the weavers in Sluzk were famous far and wide for the sashes that were produced there! Here is a life-size museum model ...:



Virtually the entire Polish-Lithuanian upper class had at least one such "Sluzker belt", as these sashes were called at the time and whoever had one praised themselves, as they were of very high quality!



The old patterns used in the 17th century ...



...according to traditional documents in Sluzk, they are still produced today ...







... even not per Hand but mechanically, and not as high quality as it used to be ...:



Incidentally, the patterns used were not invented in Sluzk, but originally from Persia!

If we take a closer look at the sashes from Sluzk, we notice that they have two different sides ...:



The simpler side was visible to the outside during the week, the Sundays and public holidays were reserved for showing the better side!

Our friend "Artjom" has already shown that he has a fondness for sumptuous clothing - and so he will wear a "Sluzk belt".

Namely this one...:



And of course I will show the better side - even if one unfortunately does not know on which day of the week exactly the scene plays with the letter that Repin painted.

In the - received - letter to the Turkish sultan we can read only:

"So the Zaporozhians have answered you, baldhead, you are not even fit to guard Christian pigs, now we have to break up.
We do not know the date because we do not have a calendar. The moon is in heaven, the year is in the book and we have the same day as you. So kiss our butt! "

Similar to the kaftan I want to proceed in three steps:

First comes a thin underpainting in which lights and shadows are hinted at or predefined. I just made this background ...:






The second step will be to apply the pattern.

And as a third step is then carefully "gilded".


So much for today!


Cheers

Martin, yours is a superb lesson of History as well as of craftmanship... Hats off!

42. Day, May 3, 2018

To test the visual effect, I have today painted the side border of the sash ...:




This has been done with these colors ...:




Although only - at most! - 2o percent of the painted surface was then treated with gold, it works on the whole like gold-plated fabric ...:





Cheers

Unfortunately not! The individual symbols in it are sometimes even smaller!


Cheers