La zarevna Sofía en el convento de Novodévichi

The scene is set in 1698. Sofia, half-sister of Peter the Great, had ruled Russia as regent until Peter pushed her aside and confined her to this Moscow convent. When the palace guard rose in her name, Peter crushed them, and Repin shows her the morning after, arms folded, heavy, powerless. Through the small window behind her hangs one of the executed guardsmen, placed there so she would see it. This was Repin's first venture into history painting, made in 1879, and he wanted the whole drama carried by a single figure instead of a crowd. His friend the painter Ivan Kramskoy said she looked like a tigress locked in a cage.