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"The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Sultan" (1891)
Historical painting on Russian themes was another favorite genre of the wanderers. This work, "The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Sultan" (1891) is by Ilya Repin. Paintings such as this attempted to capture the vitality and disorder of momentous occasions in national history. Here, a group of Cossacks, known in Russia for their love of freedom, alcohol, and bloodshed, pen an insulting letter to the Turkish Sultan, whose dominions bordered on the Cossack lands. Repin was particularly admired for his ability to produce lifelike recreations of such scenes, something that Stanislavsky would admire.