Ivan Silych Goryushkin-Sorokopudov was fascinated with Russian history. In particular, he was inspired by the 17th-century aesthetics. In many of his paintings, he explored this time period. The artist managed to create vivid and powerful images, symbolizing the connection of painting with other arts such as music, theater, and literature.

The artist also created illustrations for the novel “Prince Serebrenni” by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy and worked on images from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. He was inspired by operas such as “Boris Godunov” by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky and “Prince Igor” by Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.

Ivan Silych Goryushkin-Sorokopudov created a detailed sketch for the painting “The Uglich Case” during his last year as a student at the Academy of Arts. In this painting, he addressed one of the darkest pages in Russian history — the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, the last son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. This event led to a dynastic, economic, and social crisis in Russia, known as the Time of Troubles.

The artist depicted the end of the tragedy that occurred in 1591. The alleged murderers are running through the court. In the foreground, the artist showed one of the criminals. He strove to convey the horror and fear on the man’s face as he anticipates the imminent punishment. Even as he runs away, he cannot take his eyes off the scene of the crime. Over the centuries, “the Uglich Case” has been revisited many times. There have been various hypotheses and theories. Some have suggested that it was an accident or a case of involuntary manslaughter.

In 1902, Ivan Silych Goryushkin-Sorokopudov graduated from the Academy of Arts and received a diploma with a commentary that read,