In 1881, Ilya Repin began to paint the painting “The Appeared Icon, or the Procession of the Cross in the Oak Forest.” The artist decides to paint from life in the oak forest, for which he goes to the Root Hermitage, where religious processions took place every year. But, having arrived there, the artist found only stumps – during this period of “business flourishing” in Russia, not only cherry orchards were cut down, but also oak groves. Therefore, the artist decided to name the work “Religious Procession in the Kursk province.”

Repin wrote off his famous hunchback from the novice of the Khotkovo monastery he saw – a crippled hunchback. Then, over the course of several years, Repin wrote it six times, capturing how a hunchback turns from a shy and gentle teenager into a wary and reserved person.

Repin in the painting “Religious Procession in Kursk Province” managed to create a monumental picture of Russian life, displaying representatives of all social groups of contemporary Russia, typing them and at the same time emphasizing the individuality of each, depicting characters without embellishment.

As in many other works of the artist, it can be seen that suffering “little” people who have the hardest time in this life: peasants, wanderers, beggars, cripples – those for whom God is the only protection from injustice and adversity, evoke his sympathy.

Year of painting: 1883.

Dimensions of the painting: 175 x 280 cm.

Material: canvas.

Writing technique: oil.

Genre: genre painting.

Style: realism.

Gallery: State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.