Ilya Yefimovich Repin was born in Chuguyev, Russia, in 1844. He was a realist painter and the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. Repin persistently searched for new techniques and content to give his work more fulness and depth. His method was the reverse of impressionism. He produced works slowly and carefully. They were the result of close and detailed study. With some of his paintings, he made one hundred or more preliminary sketches.
