What’s going on in the painting ‘Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field’ by Vasily Sazonov?

This artist could have remained a serf, but Count Nikolay Rumyantsev noticed his talent. He not only fully paid for Vasily Sazonov’s studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but also gave him his freedom. Yesterday's serf turned out to be gifted: he received silver and gold medals from the Academy for his paintings and, in 1818, he went on an internship to Italy. The artist returned from there full of new ideas: after studying the masterpieces of Caravaggio and Titian, he decided to turn to a plot from Russian history – the Battle of Kulikovo.

The troops of the Moscow Prince Dmitry met with the army of the Golden Horde led by Mamai on September 8, 1380, on Kulikovo Field. Dmitry rode around all the regiments, encouraging his warriors and did not want to stay away from the battle, as his confidants had asked him to. The prince exchanged clothes and armor with a boyar named Mikhail Brenk and, mounting his horse, went into the thick of the battle. Thus, unnoticed by the enemy, he could command the course of the battle.

Mamai’s troops fled. Dmitry Donskoy won the Battle of Kulikovo, but was himself seriously wounded. The prince reached the forest, where he was later found unconscious. Sazonov depicted this dramatic moment: the soldiers find their exhausted leader and bandage his wounds. Mikhail Brenk stands in front of the prince in his armor and mantle.

For this work, Vasily Sazonov was awarded the title of academician. Until 1897, the painting was in the Hermitage, but was then transferred to the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, where it remains to this day.