Bogatyrs

At the right of Vasnetsov's Bogatyrs, the youngest of the three horsemen has already fitted an arrow to his bow. That is Alyosha Popovich, the quickest and most cunning of the three folk-epic heroes of Rus. The other two are watching the horizon for enemies but have not moved yet. Ilya Muromets in the middle grips his spear. Dobrynya Nikitich at the left rests his hand on his sword. Vasnetsov spent eighteen years on this canvas. Every weapon and every piece of armour is drawn from an archaeological find in the Moscow Kremlin's Armory Chamber. Pavel Tretyakov bought it the moment it was finished, in 1898. Now at Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow @tretyakov_gallery