Important oil on canvas, circle of Repine

Important oil on canvas (canvas support removed & restorations), circle of Repine, signed below on the right, circa 1890, representing the Sacking of the city of Zbarazh during the revolt of the Zaporoghian`s Cossacks against the king of Poland (1649). The painting was executed contemporaneously with other related works such as the "Cossacks at the Black Sea" and the famous versions of the "Zaporoghian`s Cossacks writing a letter to the Sultan Mahmud IV of Turkey", all painted at the end of the 19th century, one kept at the Museum Alexander III in St. Petersburg, the other one at the Museum of Kharkov. This painting depicts an episode from the history of Cosacks people, who have fought for centuries for their independence in the current Ukraine. The attack that is shown here was ordered by Bogdan Khmelnitski, a great Ukraining national hero whose equestrian statue stood in front of the Kiev cathedral until the end of the 19th century. This statue was executed by Mikhail Mikeshin, friend of Repine. Repine, who painting a portrait of Mikeshin, was known to be fascinated with the Cossacks, seeing in their wild thirst for independence the echo of his own insubordination.