Ivan+The+Terrible+Killing+His+Son

Coby Welsh Visual analysis 2/1/17  "Ivan, the Terrible killing his son," shows Ivan clutching his son after he struck him in the head with his specter. Ivan and his son got into a heated argument after Ivan assaulted his daughter in law and forcing her to have a miscarriage. This picture does a great job of visualizing death and some of the terrible things that can come with it. Not only did Ivan accidently kill his son who he admired greatly, but he also killed the only possible candidate to take the throne after him. It beautifully contrasts the expression of the son's face and the fathers. Ivan is horribly distraught while his son lays motionless cradled in his father’s arms staring blankly.  The author created this painting to evoke and give insight into the emotions Ivan must’ve felt immediately after realizing he killed his son. The scene is aptly named “Ivan killing his son” which explains the scene in a cold and hollow way. Just before the events of this painting, Ivan and his son were in a heated argument in which Ivan became irate and struck his son in the head with his specter. Ivan had no intention of killing his son however he was hit in the temple and couldn’t stop bleeding. This was when Ivan began cradling his son and crying out “I've killed my son!” over and over again. Without any background of the events leading up to the painting one can assume the seriousness of the situation. The tone of this painting is a very dark and emotional one, upon viewing it your first reaction is silence. Not only does the depiction of the scene make you go quite but a similar reaction would be had upon seeing this event in person. No words can be had to help console, justify or minimize the pain of a father who just killed his son.  The scene was illustrated deliberately to help amplify the dark and emotional atmosphere of the stories context. Everything is very dark except for a ray of light that illuminates Ivan’s son as to show his purity and innocence as well as to contrast the dim figure of his father. Ivans throne can be seen fallen backward entailing that after Ivan struck his son, he immediately ran to his son's aid without thinking about anything else. Beside his fallen throne, you can also see Ivans crown laying on the ground which he also disregarded once he realized his son had been severely hurt. The contrast between Ivan and his son also exists within their personal clothing, Ivan is wearing all black while his crown lays on the floor behind him his son is dressed in a Whitish gold clothing. Ivans sons gold clothing is the only thing being illuminated by the small amount light in the room (other than Ivans' eyes) which draw your focus to him. The other thing being illuminated in the scene are Ivan eyes. His eyes being illuminated focus your attention to him and help you grasp the emotions he's feeling after making the biggest mistake of his life. His eyes are the primary focus of the painting they project how distraught Ivan is. He realizes he has just killed his son and the only heir to the throne, all because of an impulsive action while he was angry. Another aspect of the painting is that no one else is visible it’s just Ivan and his son which keeps the focus solely on them.  This painting does an outstanding job communicating with its audience. In no way is the painting attempting to bemuse or add useless complexity to the scene instead the point it's conveying is explicit and straightforward. Showing the viewer the overwhelming cascade of emotion that Ivan is feeling for killing his son by accident. He's torn between despair, regret and hope that by miracle his son won’t die and will heal. The illustrator's portrayal is realistic because along with death come an array of feeling and consequences that people don’t think about until worst comes to worst. Depicting a death like this is very different than how death is normally presented. Death is normally depicted as honorable or for a noble cause however this painting shows death in a different way. This painting shows the unspoken aspects of death, a meaningless and inconsequential death. Ivan couldn’t have foreseen that his son would’ve died that day and especially by his hand so when it did happen he was overcome with thoughts, ideas, and emotions he has never experienced. When the viewer sees this imagine you feel those emotions Ivan is feeling and the way the painter illustrated his eyes help significantly towards this. Reppin, Ilya. //Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16th, 1581//. Digital image.//Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2017.

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