Painting by IK Aivazovsky “Brig” Mercury “, attacked by two Turkish courts” is dedicated to real historical events that occurred during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. On May 14 (26), 1829, three Russian ships: the Standard frigate and the 2 brigades Orpheus and Mercury carried a patrol in the waters of the Bosphorus Strait. Noticing the Turkish squadron, which at times exceeded their power and the number of ships, the commanders decided to leave, since there was no unequal battle of order. But that day was too weak a wind, therefore the small brig has lagged behind the more high-speed companions. And was overtaken by two Turkish frigates, which at times exceeded it in size and power. The Brig “Mercury” – 18 guns, and the line ships of the Turkish squadron: “Real-Bey – 74 guns,” Selimie ” – 110 guns. “Mercury” had to accept this unequal opposition. Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky – the commander
of the ship and the crew of the ship understood that the battle was inevitable. It was decided that the last measure would be to blow up the ship together with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” It was necessary to accept this unequal opposition. Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky – the commander of the ship and the crew of the ship understood that the battle was inevitable. It was decided that the last measure would be to blow up the ship together with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian
sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” It was necessary to accept this unequal opposition. Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky – the commander of the ship and the crew of the ship understood that the battle was inevitable. It was decided that the last measure would be to blow up the ship together with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky – the commander of the ship and the crew of the ship understood that the battle was inevitable. It was decided that the last measure would be to blow up the ship together with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky – the commander of the ship and the crew of the ship understood that the battle was inevitable. It was decided that the last measure would be to blow up the ship together with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” that the ultimate measure would be to blow up the ship along with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” that the ultimate measure would be to blow up the ship along with the Turkish frigate, since capitulation to the enemy is a shame for the Russian sailor. The brig suffered heavy losses, it was riddled with enemy shells, several crew members were killed, but they survived. And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.” And Turkish ships, after receiving serious damage, left the battlefield. The commander of the Turkish ship after the battle wrote: “If in the great deeds of the ancients and our times there are great feats of courage, then this deed must all be darkened, and the name of this hero is worthy to be inscribed in gold letters on the temple of Glory: it is called Captain-Lieutenant Kazarsky and brig “Mercury.”
It was this historic event that inspired IK Aivazovsky to write this picture. In the picture we see two powerful Turkish ships and a small Russian brig, sandwiched between them. The Turkish frigates are so huge that a tiny brig is not immediately visible in the picture. In the picture it is seen how the enemy ships are being burned on the brig, but at the same time we see powerful volleys of our guns. Maneuvering between the two machinas, the brisk ship beats off the pressure of enemy guns. It is worth paying attention to the color scheme of the picture. We see the blue, green, white-gray tones of the sea, the pearly gray sky, the brown-gray ships with white and milk-colored sails. The deep palette of blue shades of the sea perfectly harmonizes with gray shades of clouds. In the picture, only two bright spots are the flags of Turkish frigates. The painting is written in restrained tones, so as not to distract the viewer from the events depicted in the picture. Unlike most of the artist’s paintings, the sea here is not the main acting character, but becomes the place of battle. In the background, if you look closely, we can see two light silhouettes of ships, the retreating Turkish squadron. On the canvas it is noticeable that the calm sea begins to worry, the waves amplify, the sea acquires more sombre colors, as if the sea element is unhappy with what is happening. The sea in the paintings of Aivazovsky is always alive, it worries, breathes, is a full participant in events. In the upper right corner it is seen that the sky is slowly acquiring storm shades. In the lower left corner we see the author’s signature and the year of writing the picture. The location of the ships in the picture is often challenged by the researchers since, being sandwiched between two huge ships at the “
IK Aivazovsky dedicated a brig of Mercury to at least two more pictures: “Brig” Mercury “after the victory over two Turkish ships meets with the Russian squadron” (1848) and “Brig” Mercury “is fighting with two Turkish courts” . This is not surprising, because it is a symbol of self-sacrifice, disobedience, manliness of Russian sailors. These pictures make us admire the heroism of the Russian fleet and of the Russian people as a whole.
