Evpaty Kolovrat was a Russian bogatyr, a knight described in epics of the XIII century. According to the legend, he was born in the area of Ryazan. When the army of Batu Khan attacked Ryazan the knight was in Chernigov and upon return found the city destroyed and plundered. Evpaty Kolovrat gathered the remaining forces and soon defeated the rear guard of Mongolian troops near Suzdal.
Kolovrat performed many heroic deeds, among them the defeat of the mythical Mongolian warrior Khostovrul. The bogatyr — a man of extraordinary strength — was finally killed by the enemy using stone launchers. The only ancient Russian source mentioning him is The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan by Batu of the XVI century. Contemporary historians share the view that Kolovrat was a mythical person.
In his 1984 painting Evpaty Kolovrat’s Armed Force artist Sergei Simakov combined the folk tale about the Ryazan hero and Christian images in a surrealist manner. The bogatyr is either mounted on a horse near the right edge of the painting or is entering the winter forest surrounded by his troops. The soldiers are warming near fires reflecting the fires in Ryazan. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is portrayed closer to the top edge of the painting.
Sergei Simakov created in this painting a collective heroic image of a Russian warrior regardless of time and space. The artist was a contemporary of the war in Afghanistan and the civil war in Angola and saw participants of these military conflicts. In the annotation to the painting he wrote: ‘More and more Russian bogatyrs presented themselves to the world. Belied, forgotten…’.
Kolovrat performed many heroic deeds, among them the defeat of the mythical Mongolian warrior Khostovrul. The bogatyr — a man of extraordinary strength — was finally killed by the enemy using stone launchers. The only ancient Russian source mentioning him is The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan by Batu of the XVI century. Contemporary historians share the view that Kolovrat was a mythical person.
In his 1984 painting Evpaty Kolovrat’s Armed Force artist Sergei Simakov combined the folk tale about the Ryazan hero and Christian images in a surrealist manner. The bogatyr is either mounted on a horse near the right edge of the painting or is entering the winter forest surrounded by his troops. The soldiers are warming near fires reflecting the fires in Ryazan. St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is portrayed closer to the top edge of the painting.
Sergei Simakov created in this painting a collective heroic image of a Russian warrior regardless of time and space. The artist was a contemporary of the war in Afghanistan and the civil war in Angola and saw participants of these military conflicts. In the annotation to the painting he wrote: ‘More and more Russian bogatyrs presented themselves to the world. Belied, forgotten…’.
