Imaginary Portrait of Yermak Timofeyevich

This portrait of Yermak Timofeyevich, "the first conqueror of Siberia", was painted in oil on tin by an unknown artist in the first quarter of the 19th century. It does not record the ataman's real appearance: in the 16th century, when Yermak lived, portraiture did not yet exist in Rus, and all his images are products of artists' imagination.

Yermak was a Cossack ataman who led the campaign into Siberia; he perished in 1585. There are many theories about his origins: the Urals, the Don and the Russian North are all named as his homeland. One of the Siberian chronicles, compiled almost a century after his death, describes him as flat-faced, black-bearded, of middle height, stocky and broad-shouldered.

Imaginary images of Yermak became widespread in the 18th century, especially in Siberia, and were popular among ordinary people. The ataman was usually shown as a black-bearded man past his youth, in mail or plate armour, with an oval gold medallion and a spear. This portrait on tin follows the same tradition: Yermak wears mail, with a medallion on a chain and a spear in his hand.