Was Repin’s masterpiece inspired by a fictitious Cossack letter? The main intrigue is whether the correspondence in question was ever written.
In the 1670s, the Ottoman Empire clashed with the Tsardom of Russia. Two hundred years later, renowned realist painter Ilya Repin heard a story about Cossacks composing a humiliating letter to Mehmed IV, the Sultan of the hostile Ottoman Empire. Ptuj Ormož Regional Museum, Slovenia
The story inspired Repin to create one of his greatest masterpieces. While many believe not least due to Repin’s artistic endeavor that the letter was a genuine historical document, historians express their reservations.