Listening to Shrike by Hozier while looking through a huge scrapbook that belonged to some highschool girl in 1921 was NOT a good idea cause I'm so close to sobbing
The painting portrays the anguish and remorse on the face of the elder Ivan and the gentleness of the dying Tsarevich, forgiving his father with his tears.
To date, the painting has been targeted by vandals twice. 1913 was the first instance of this - when 29-year-old Abram Balashov, a well-to-do icon painter, stabbed the part of the canvas showing the faces of Ivan and his son with a knife, leaving three long slashes. As he did this, he screamed: “Enough of death, enough of bloodshed!” After learning about the incident, the Tretyakov’s gallery curator Georgy Khruslov took his own life by jumping under a train – ashamed that his staff didn’t keep the painting safe.