Author: Nikolay Kornilevich Pimonenko
Years of life: (1862 - 1912)
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Time of creation: 1898
Location: Kharkiv Art Museum, Kharkiv
This socially incriminating picture was created by the artist after he read in a newspaper about an attack by members of the Jewish community on a girl who fell in love with a Ukrainian blacksmith and decided to convert to Christianity for the sake of marriage with him. Excited by this note, the artist visited the town of Kremenets in Volhynia before painting the picture, where he made many sketches from nature.
A young girl in a torn shirt, fleeing from an angry crowd, pressed herself against the fence, a cross is visible on her neck. Right in front of her stands a man with a stunning fist in Jewish ritual clothing - in addition to a pile of tefillin and tallit. The rest of the inhabitants of the town are dressed casually. Many of them armed themselves with sticks, umbrellas and grips. The girl's parents are somewhat on the sidelines: the mother is sobbing, turning away from her daughter, and the father raised his right hand in a sign of renunciation of his daughter.
