Bogatyr by Victor Vasnetsov

Before us, the Russian hero on a battle horse. The outfit of the hero, his clothes are deprived of all luxury, beauty. It’s very simple, nothing superfluous. Dark blue caftan, helmet, light ports, soft but durable leather boots and mittens.

Simply and combat equipment of the hero: a sword, an onion, a mace. But the horse’s bridle, on the contrary, is richly decorated, which clearly shows the attitude of the knight to his fighting friend. And the rider and the horse are like one another. In both, there is strength, power, courage. The landscape of watercolor plays the role of a color background. Wide steppe open spaces are empty, devoid of any vegetation. Greenish clouds hang sadly over the steppe. Silence.

With folded hand “tubule”, anxiously peers into this silence the hero. The quiet horse also listens to the steppe. It is safe to say that the watercolor “Bogatyr” is just a sketch, a sketch, a test of a brush. The features of the hero’s face are devoid of individuality, the landscape is schematic. The author carefully experiments, gradually forming his main idea: creating a picture of the heroes-defenders, the heroes of the ancient Russian epics and legends. Later, this sketch will form the basis of the famous Painting “Bogatyri”.