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Large-scale painting depicting the aftermath of a violent struggle between soldiers and citizens in a snowy town square. Several people sit or lie in the snow, feet bound together, while soldiers and onlookers surround them, while a figure wearing a long red robe and headscarf stands defiantly in the foreground.

The Fall of Novgorod

Gallery Location

Not currently on view

Klavdi Vasilevich Lebedev

Medieval resistance leader Marfa Boretskaia (pictured in a red cloak) stands steadfast amid the chaos of an invading army. Behind her, soldiers of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, remove Novgorod’s bell, a symbol of the city’s self-governance. According to legend, Boretskaia led Novgorod’s failed attempt to remain independent and resist annexation to the emerging Russian nation. Early 19th-century revolutionaries revived the story of Novgorod and adopted Boretskaia and the city’s bell as symbols of freedom, transforming a historical incident into an enduring popular cultural phenomenon, as this painting attests. This is one of nearly one hundred paintings US Ambassador Joseph E. Davies collected for his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, while in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. With the encouragement of the Soviet government, he focused on modern paintings and historical scenes that he believed interpreted the “great events which are transpiring here.” These events included the modernization of the Soviet Union, which Davies described as “manifestations of the finest humanitarian impulses to lift” the working class “combined with the most ruthless cruelty in method.” Davies likely thought this composition, famous in Russia, would be an excellent example of Russian history and culture for US audiences.
Artist/Maker
Klavdi Vasilevich Lebedev
(Russian, 1852 - 1916)
Title
The Fall of Novgorod
Date
1891
Material & Process
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
64 3/8 x 101 3/4 in. Overall
Credit
Gift of Joseph E. Davies
Inventory No.
37.2.70
Classification
Paintings
Location
Russia

Related

1937, purchased in U.S.S.R. [now Russia] by Joseph E. Davies [ambassador to U.S.S.R.] (Washington, DC); 1937, gifted to University of Wisconsin – Madison; 1967, transferred to Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Bowlt, John E. "Soviet Paintings in the Joseph E. Davies Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art Bulletin, 1976-1977. Elvehjem Museum of Art (1977): 34-42.
  • Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin of the City of New York. "The Joseph E. Davies Collection of Russian Paintings and Icons Presented to The University of Wisconsin." New York: Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin of the City of New York, 1938. pp. 44-45, 48, no. 74; pl. 74
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Handbook of the Collection." Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, 1990. no. 99
  • Chazen Museum of Art. "Artscene." Vol. 22, No. 2, Special Edition, May 2005. back cover
  • Elvehjem Art Center. Elvehjem Art Center Annual Report. "Bulletin 1975-1976". Madison, WI: Elvehjem Art Center, 1976 p. 2
  • Bordwell, David. "The Cinema of Eisenstein." Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1993. 209, fig. 6.20
  • "Art: Wisconsin Gift," Time Magazine v. 31, issue 24 (June 13, 1938) 48

  • Russian Paintings from the Joseph E. Davies Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 2/7/1987–3/8/1987
  • Selections from the Joseph E. Davies Collection of Russian and Soviet Paintings: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 8/1/1981–9/27/1981
  • Art of Russia, 1800-1850, The: University of Minnesota, University Gallery, 3/21/1979–5/6/1979
  • Joseph E. Davies Collection of Russian Paintings and Icons Presented to the University of Wisconsin: Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6/1/1938–6/30/1938

This large-scale oil painting depicts a scene of citizen resistance members captured by soldiers in the snowy city of Novgorod. In the foreground, several figures, their feet bound with rope, sit or lie in the snow, their eyes and postures expressing dismay and anguish. Near the center, an older, bearded figure raises their right hand while clutching their left hand to their chest. Beside them, a youthful figure in a red coat and brown leather boots sits in the snow, staring in horror at a lifeless body on the ground nearby. A soldier kneels over this body that lies on their back with open eyes. Just right of center, a figure wearing a headscarf and a long red cloak stands stoically, facing the viewer, with an expression of silent outrage. Behind these figures, a soldier sits on a large metal bell tied to a wooden palette. In the background, a large crowd of soldiers and onlookers fills the street, and tall buildings with snow-covered rooftops fade into the bleak, gray sky.

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Information about artworks presented here may not reflect the most current research. Chazen staff update records as new details emerge; please verify independently for scholarly use and notify us of any errors.