Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1904-04-19
Vasili VereStchagin.

The last battle scene placed on can
vas by Vasili Verestchagin, the famous
Russian painter. was the Battle of
San Juan HILL" in which Col. Theo-
dore Roosevelt and his Rought Riders
have a prominent place. Indeed, the
portrait CT Mr.. Roosevelt is one of the
chief features of the painting, and is
reported to be exceptionally fine. The
work as a whole is said to rank with
the best pictures by the great Russian,
and it takes on an added value and
interest now that its creator has met
a tragic death in war. Verestchagin
was on board the i'll fated Petropav-
lovsk when it blew up, and the pre-
sumption is that he was killed in
stantly. All that is known is that he
persisted, with the gallant officers and
men of the battleship.
The Battle of San Juan" was paint
ed at Washington for Mr.. Roosevelt,
who posed frequently for the painter,
and the various features of the paint
ing had the benefit of Mr.. Roosevelts
artistic criticism and suggestion.
Former Rough Riders posed for some
CT the figures and as photographs We're
utilized, it is just possible that the
face of one or more Arizonians can be
recognized in the picture.
The world of art has lost its master
painter of battle scenes. No other
painter of any age possessed such a
magic touch in bringing out the hor-
rible, gruesome side of war-the real
side-and depicting it on canvas.
Vasili Verestchagin was bern Octo-
Der 26, 1912, in the district of Novgo-
rod, Russia, and until he arrived at.
the age of Il attended the Marine
school, at St. Petersburg. Leaving
the Marine school he took up the
study of art. He went to Paris in
1864, and there attended the Ecole des
Beaux Arts, studying under Gerome.
In 1871 he entered the studio of Hor-
schaldt, in Munich, TO finish his
sketches made during Kaufman's eX-
petition to Central Asia. In 1874 he
visited India, and his paintings made
after the journey show the wonder
full filigree work with which the
buildings of that land are bedecked.
Verestchagin was a realist. He paint
ed things as he saw them, and moth
ing could induce him to change his
views. He has shown us all the hor-
rors of war, and in doing so has
sought to teach the world a lesson in
peace. In his "Apotheosis of War;
present and to come" he shows the
cost of strife; the field is covered
with frozen corpses which the ravens
are picking; the brutal, bloodthirsty
Turks are mutilating the dead and
torturing the wounded-the whole
making a picture and teaching a les
son never to be forgotten. He served in
the Causasus and in the Russo-Turk-
ish war; was present at the storming of
Plevna; acted as secretary in the nego-
tiations for peace; and went to India
again in 1882 and 1884. Many of his
paintings are at Moscow, in the Tret-
jakoff collection. Among his other
pictures is a cycle of 90 from the his
tory of India, a cycle of 20 from the
campaign in Turkestan, 20 from the
Russo-Turkish war, and a number of
sacred subjects. In 1897 he was given
the great prize of 100000, awarded on
the Nobel foundation by the Nor
wegian parliament.
Although Verestchagin painted war
with view to making war a terrible
object lesson to humanity, the earn
age and the horrors of battle had a
peculiar fascination for him, and he
doubtless knew full we'll the risks he
took when he insisted upon seeing
from the deck of a Russian battleship
the details Of an engagement between
his countrymen and their enemy.