Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks
"
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" depicts a supposedly historical tableau, set in 1676, and based on the legend of Cossacks sending a reply to an ultimatum of the
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
Mehmed IV.
The Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Cossackinhabiting the lands around the lower
Dnieper River in
Ukraine, had defeated
Ottoman Empire forces in battle. However, Mehmed demanded that the Cossacks submit to
Turkish rule. The Cossacks, led by
Ivan Sirko, replied in an uncharacteristic manner: they wrote a letter, replete with insults and profanities. The painting exhibits the Cossacks' pleasure at striving to come up with ever more base vulgarities. During Repin's time, the Cossacks enjoyed great popular sympathy. Repin also admired them: "
All that Gogol wrote about them is true! A holy people
...