On 24 April 1877 Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich was appointed commander of the Rushchuk (Eastern) Division, named after a Turkish fortress. The Rushchuk Division included about 40,000 men, and was tasked with defending the eastern flank of the Russian army.
Artists Vasily Vereshchagin, Alexander Kivshenko, Pavel Kovalevsky, Lev Lagorio, and others served as war correspondents in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, becoming witnesses to and participants in military operations. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich invited artist Vasily Polenov to serve permanently at his headquarters.
Polenov began work immediately, and each day would make five or six studies, devoting particular attention to depicting military life during wartime. The winter of 1877–1878 in Bulgaria was quite harsh. The men lived in small wattle-and-daub huts with paper covering the windows (for lack of glass), not even fully protected from the wind. The Heir later recalled that in the freezing weather the temperature of his room in the mornings was only one degree. The stove could only manage to slowly heat the premises with damp wood, and the walls and floor let in strong draughts. Thus he was forced to constantly wear warm boots and outer clothing inside.
On 30 November (12 December) 1877 there was a bloody battle near the village of Mechki, in which the Rushchuk Division secured a victory over the Turks, who had outnumbered them. In his studies, Polenov documented, in part, the bodies of the dead and wounded strewn about the battlefield.
Upon returning to Russia in March 1878, Polenov began working on a series of canvases dedicated to the war. These works by the artist cannot strictly be called military art, as they lack the typical heroic pathos. Instead they depict local characters, scenes from everyday life, and the moments just after the battle had ended – more similar to landscapes and genre scenes.
Polenov ended work on his commissions in the autumn of 1883. His paintings were presented to Alexander III at Gatchina Palace, and the Emperor was pleased. Having himself participated in war, Alexander was deeply revolted by it, and was later officially called “The Peacemaker” for his peace-loving policies. Alexander placed the paintings and studies from the Balkan series in the palaces at Gatchina and Tsarskoye Selo. Ten of those works later became part of the Russian museum’s collection.
