Nikolay Shustov is a Russian artist, Academician of History Painting of the Imperial Academy of Arts. The contemporaries considered him a very talented author, who proved to be knowledgeable in painting with a sense of colors, and a rare ability to magnify drama to his compositions.

Nikolay Shustov lived a short life being only 33 years old when he died, yet managed to create several interesting works.

This small canvas, ‘Ivan the Terrible at the body of his son whom he murdered’, was written in 1864, before Repin’s famous painting on the same subject. Until now, historians have not reached a consensus on the actual cause of death of Ivan the Terrible’s son. There are too many versions but the most common one, which has become the plot of many fictional works, is that his father killed the young man in a burst of temper.

There are many important stresses in this canvas: red color in the center of the composition has a unique vibe — a bedspread covering the murdered tsarevich has the same color. In Russian Orthodox tradition, red is the color of warmth, love. Sometimes this color was used to paint the background as a sign of the triumph of eternal life. That is why red became a symbol of the Resurrection meaning life over death. However, at the same time, it is the color of blood and martyrdom, Christ’s sacrifice. Martyrs were depicted on icons of scarlet robes, the wings of the archangels-seraphim close to the throne of Lord glowing red. In Shustov’s canvas, scarlet color is a symbol of suffering.

The faces of the murdered tsarevich and Ivan the Terrible are given almost on the same level, in a dead-gray pale color, which create a feeling of chilling horror. The tsar’s right hand with the open Bible is instinctively lowered — Ivan the Terrible is shown as a suffering man in all the depths of despair.