Vasily Vereshchagin

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (; 26 October 184213 April 1904) was a Russian painter, war artist, and traveller. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led to many of them never being printed or exhibited to the public.

Years of apprenticeship

Vereshchagin was born at Cherepovets, Novgorod Governorate, Russia, in 1842 as the middle of three brothers. His father was a landowner of noble birth, while his mother was of common origin and had Tatar roots. When he was eight years old, he was sent to Tsarskoe Selo to enter the Alexander Cadet Corps. Three years later, he entered the Naval Cadet Corps at St. Petersburg, making his first voyage in 1858. He traveled again to India in 1882–1883.

He aroused much controversy by his series of three pictures: firstly, of a Roman execution (the Crucifixion by the Romans (1887)); secondly, Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English; and, thirdly, of the execution of Nihilists in St Petersburg. In 1887, Vereshchagin defended himself in The Magazine of Art by saying that if there were another rebellion then the British would use this method again.

A journey to the Ottoman provinces of Syria and Palestine in 1884 furnished him with an equally discussed set of subjects from the New Testament.

Last years

Vereshchagin was in the Far East during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, and was with the Russian troops in Manchuria during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

Legacy The town of Vereshchagino in Perm Krai is named after him, as well as a minor planet, 3410 Vereshchagin, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1978. Vereshchagin Street in Cherepovets is named after Vasily Vereshchagin, also there are a historic house museum and a monument to Vereshchagin in Cherepovets. He is a distant relative of the Czech rock singer Aleš Brichta. The Apotheosis of War was used by Czech heavy metal band Arakain as the cover art for the album Farao.

Gallery