Evgeny Vladimirovich Ilyin was born in 1904 in Samara. He studied at the art studio at the Samara People’s University, was enrolled to the Moscow organization of the Union of Soviet Artists. Evgeny Ilyin created mainly battle scenes. During the Great Patriotic War he went on active service as a press artist.
The canvas “Heroic Defense of Smolensk from the Polish gentry” was acquired by the Smolensk Museum in Moscow from the author in 1949. The plot of the picture tells about one of the tragic episodes in Smolensk history. In August 1609, at the height of the Time of Troubles, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth moved to open aggression against the Russian state. At the beginning of the 17th century Smolensk was the most important stronghold on the western border, covering the main routes to Moscow, and on September 21, 1609, the many months of defense of Smolensk from the army of the Polish king Sigismund III began. The five-thousandth garrison of the city under the leadership of the voivode boyar Mikhail Borisovich Shein held back more than 20,000-strong army of conquerors. The Moscow boyars, who invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne, ordered the governor Mikhail Shein to surrender Smolensk to the enemy. But the Russian commander refused to carry out the treacherous order.
In the besieged city, where, according to the historian Karamzin, more than 50,000 people were trying to save themselves from the invasion, there was an acute shortage of food, clean water and ammunition. An extremely unsanitary situation developed, epidemics raged. From eyewitness accounts it is known that during siege winters the Smolensk people used to bury a hundred people every day. On June 3, 1611, after a 20-month defense, repelling about a dozen general assaults during the siege, Smolensk fell. The fate of the inhabitants was tragic. Voivode Mikhail Borisovich Shein ended up in Polish captivity for many years.
The defense of Smolensk was of great historical importance. Resilience of the Smolensk residents allowed the Russians to gain time and gather strength. In the same 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod, a national militia was assembled under the leadership of Kozma Minin and Prince Dmitry Petrovich Pozharsky. These people went down in history as the saviors of the Fatherland.
The canvas “Heroic Defense of Smolensk from the Polish gentry” was acquired by the Smolensk Museum in Moscow from the author in 1949. The plot of the picture tells about one of the tragic episodes in Smolensk history. In August 1609, at the height of the Time of Troubles, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth moved to open aggression against the Russian state. At the beginning of the 17th century Smolensk was the most important stronghold on the western border, covering the main routes to Moscow, and on September 21, 1609, the many months of defense of Smolensk from the army of the Polish king Sigismund III began. The five-thousandth garrison of the city under the leadership of the voivode boyar Mikhail Borisovich Shein held back more than 20,000-strong army of conquerors. The Moscow boyars, who invited the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne, ordered the governor Mikhail Shein to surrender Smolensk to the enemy. But the Russian commander refused to carry out the treacherous order.
In the besieged city, where, according to the historian Karamzin, more than 50,000 people were trying to save themselves from the invasion, there was an acute shortage of food, clean water and ammunition. An extremely unsanitary situation developed, epidemics raged. From eyewitness accounts it is known that during siege winters the Smolensk people used to bury a hundred people every day. On June 3, 1611, after a 20-month defense, repelling about a dozen general assaults during the siege, Smolensk fell. The fate of the inhabitants was tragic. Voivode Mikhail Borisovich Shein ended up in Polish captivity for many years.
The defense of Smolensk was of great historical importance. Resilience of the Smolensk residents allowed the Russians to gain time and gather strength. In the same 1611 in Nizhny Novgorod, a national militia was assembled under the leadership of Kozma Minin and Prince Dmitry Petrovich Pozharsky. These people went down in history as the saviors of the Fatherland.
