Plot
On the river bank, barge haulers are harnessed and pulling the ship. Based on Repin’s painting, which seems to be even in school history textbooks, the image of a beggar, a ragamuffin, who has no other way to earn a living except through hellish labor, has been replicated. Repin also throws wood on the social fire: on the horizon one can see a symbol of progress - a tugboat that could replace the barge hauler, ease his lot, but for some reason is not used.
Some critics called “Barge Haulers on the Volga” a profanation of art
The gang is led by three “roots”: in the center is the barge hauler Kanin, reminiscent of the philosopher Repin, the bearded man personifying primitive strength, and the embittered “Ilka the Sailor”. Behind them are the rest, among whom stand out a tall, phlegmatic old man filling his pipe, the young man Larka, as if trying to free himself from the strap, the black-haired “Greek”, who seems to be calling out to a barge hauler ready to collapse on the sand.
The characters are portrayed so emotionally and vividly that one readily believes this story. However, do not rush to judge the whole phenomenon in the economy based on one picture. Tsarist Russia. The fact is that the barge hauler’s work process was different.
On the barges there was a large drum on which a cable was wound with three anchors attached to it. The movement began with people getting into a boat, taking a rope with anchors with them, and sailing upstream. Along the way they dropped anchors. The haulers on the barge clung to the cable with their jowls and walked from the bow to the stern, selecting the rope, and there, at the stern, it was wound onto a drum. It turned out that they were walking backwards, and the deck under their feet was moving forward. Then they again ran to the bow of the barge, and all this was repeated. This is how the barge floated upstream to the first anchor, which was then raised, then to the second and third. What Repin described happened if a pilot ran a barge aground. Such work was paid separately.
Repin forced the whole family to work on his paintings
As for money and grub, the barge hauler was far from being as poor as the artist showed. They worked in artels and before the start of the shipping season they agreed on grub. They were given bread, meat, butter, sugar, salt, tea, tobacco, and cereals per day. After lunch we always slept. And money for summer season a good barge hauler earned so much that in winter time could do nothing. Hundreds of thousands of people were employed in the barge fishing industry. In the overwhelming majority of cases they went there voluntarily, as if they were going to waste work.
Context
"Barge Haulers on the Volga" - early work Repina. He was not yet 30 years old when the canvas was completed. At that time, the artist was a student at the Academy and mainly wrote in biblical stories. Repin turned to realism, it seems, unexpectedly for himself. And it was like this. At the end of the 1860s, he and his fellow students went to sketch in Ust-Izhora (a village near St. Petersburg). The embankment, the gentlemen are strolling, everything is decorous and noble. And suddenly the impressionable Repin noticed a gang of barge haulers.
“Oh God, why are they so dirty and ragged! - exclaimed the artist. -...The faces are gloomy, sometimes only a heavy glance flashes from under a strand of tangled hanging hair, the faces are sweaty and shiny, and the shirts are completely dark. This is the contrast with this clean, fragrant flower garden of the gentlemen.”
During that trip, Repin made a sketch of a painting, the plot of which was based on the contrast between barge haulers and summer residents. The composition was criticized by the artist’s friend Fyodor Vasiliev, calling it artificial and rational. It was he who advised Repin to go to the Volga and finalize the plot, and at the same time helped with money - the painter himself was extremely strapped for money.
Repin settled in Samara region for the whole summer, got to know the locals, asked about life. “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the question of everyday life and the social structure of the contracts between barge haulers and their owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absentmindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship with the owners and these bloodsucking boys.”
Much more artist I was captivated by the very image of the barge hauler: “This one, with whom I caught up and kept pace - this is a story, this is a novel! Why are all the novels and all the stories before this figure! God, how wonderfully his head is tied with a rag, how his hair is curled towards his neck, and most importantly, the color of his face!” This is how Repin described Kanin, a barge hauler, a low-haired priest whom he met on the Volga. The artist considered it “the pinnacle of the Burlatsky epic.”
The public saw the painting in 1873 in St. Petersburg at art exhibition works of painting and sculpture intended to be sent to Vienna for the World Exhibition. Reviews were mixed.
Repin painted portraits even of those who categorically refused to pose
Dostoevsky, for example, wrote: “It is impossible not to love them, these defenseless ones, you cannot leave without loving them. One cannot help but think that he should, really owes it to the people... After all, this burlatsky “party” will be seen in dreams later, in fifteen years it will be remembered! If they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make an impression and wouldn’t create such a picture.” Repin was praised by Kramskoy, Stasov, and all those who would later become Wanderers.
Academic circles called the painting “the greatest profanation of art,” “the sober truth of miserable reality.” One of the journalists saw on the canvas “various civic motives and thin ideas, transferred to the canvas from newspaper articles... from which realists draw their inspiration.”
After St. Petersburg, the picture went to Vienna. There she was also greeted by some with delight, others with bewilderment. “Well, tell me, for God’s sake, what difficult reason compelled you to paint this picture? You must be a Pole?.. Well, what a shame - Russian! But I have already reduced this antediluvian method of transport to zero, and soon there will be no mention of it. And you paint a picture, take it to the World Exhibition in Vienna and, I think, dream of finding some stupid rich man who will buy these gorillas, our bast shoes,” said one of the ministers.
And yet the painting found a buyer. He became Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, which is why the canvas was closed to the general public, who could only see it at exhibitions.
The fate of the artist
Repin's life was long and eventful. Starting with “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” people started talking about the artist as a new phenomenon in art. Over time, he became one of the most popular portrait painters. Even those who had never agreed to anyone’s proposal posed for him.
Kustodiev, Grabar, Serov - students of Repin
Repin painted each of his canvases thoroughly; the work took several years. He captivated both family and friends with the idea. They all looked for costumes, posed, and literally lived the story. Eldest daughter artist Vera recalled that when Repin was working on the painting “The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan», for a long time the whole family lived only as Cossacks: Ilya Efimovich read aloud poems and stories about the Sich every evening, the children knew all the heroes by heart, played Taras Bulba, Ostap and Andriy, sculpted their figures from clay and could at any time quote a piece of text from a letter from the Cossacks to the Sultan.
And when Repin was working on the painting “Ruler Princess Sofya Alekseevna a year after her imprisonment Novodevichy Convent during the execution of the archers and the torture of all her servants in 1698,” he even lived not far from the monastery. Meanwhile, Repin’s first wife Vera Alekseevna sewed a dress with her own hands according to sketches brought from the Armory Chamber.
There is a lot about Repin’s personality mystical stories. And about how his paintings influenced people, and about the fact that many sitters soon died a death other than their own, and about how Ilya Efimovich communicated with sorcerers. Of course, it is impossible to confirm or refute them. But they add a special flavor to the story of the master of realism.
The painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga” was painted in 1873. The history of the creation of this masterpiece is described in great detail by Repin himself in the book “Distant Close”. For the first time, the idea of creating such a work, which completely fits into the concept critical realism, came to the mind of an artist in the 1860s. Once Repin saw a scene while walking along the Neva River, when a smart crowd of summer residents found themselves next to tattered, beggarly, dirty barge haulers. Repin was so impressed by this contrasting picture that he immediately decided to create a masterpiece. In 1870, he took a trip along the Volga with the aim of creating etudes and portrait sketches. As a result of trips along the Volga in 1873, a picture was painted that shows hard life barge haulers. The construction of the picture is based in such a way that a procession moves from the depths towards the viewer. At the same time, the figures do not obscure each other. Repin did it masterfully. We see characters, each of which can be considered as an independent portrait line. Each character's face is individual. The amazing natural persuasiveness is successfully intertwined with the conventionality of the picture form. The artist divided the string of barge haulers into three groups, each of which has its own character, human types, temperament. WITH central character paintings by barge hauler Kanin, who heads the top four, Repin compares ancient philosophers. To the right of Kanin is a barge hauler, personifying the natural density of strength. On the right is “Ilka the sailor,” who looks directly at the viewer with his gaze and expresses anger and hatred. Kanin, who is in the center, appears to be the middle character between these two opposites. The other characters in the picture are no less characteristic. Full of life and the hopeful young man Larka, who seems to be trying to free himself from the straps, and is not accustomed to this kind of work, the phlegmatic old man, who manages to fill his pipe as he goes, the black-haired, gloomy Greek, who turned around slightly in order to call a comrade from the last three, who is here... it will collapse on the sand. Of course, the “super-plot” of Repin’s barge haulers on the Volga is the beginning and end of the journey, a thoughtful narrative about the existence of people who are connected by one strap every day. Repin's painting Barge Haulers on the Volga was enthusiastically received not only by viewers, but also by critics. Subsequently, Repin painted another picture - “Barge Haulers Going to the Ford,” which also depicts the hard life of the Russian people.
Who are barge haulers? These are hired workers, whose work was relevant from the 16th century until the invention of steam engines. The Volga has long been the main transport artery of the country. Huge barks floated along it, pulled by hauling ropes. These people did deadly hard work. At least, this is the impression created by the well-known painting by Repin.
Yarygi
A superficial idea of who barge haulers are, modern man has thanks to Fyodor Reshetnikov’s essay “Podlipovtsy”, the above-mentioned painting by Ilya Repin and other works of painting and literature. In the north of Russia such workers were called yarygs.
Who is a barge hauler? This is a hard worker who does seasonal work. After the ice broke up, men from villages located on the banks of large rivers united into artels. Who is a barge hauler? This is a desperate man who has lost his economy and interest in life. Lovers of free air and travel went to barge haulers.
Terms
Of course, the barge haulers also had a boss. He was the most experienced and authoritative worker who monitored the condition of the ship and took responsibility for the safety of the cargo. It was called a water tank. The pilot was next in the hierarchy of barge haulers. Who is this and what did he do? The pilot made sure that the barge did not run aground and carried the cargo through without incident. dangerous places. He was otherwise called “uncle” or “bulatnik”.
Quite a few others interesting words was present in Burlatsky terminology. For example, "bump". This is another one important position in the artel of barge haulers. Who is it? “Shishka” was the name given to an advanced worker who was responsible for the coordinated work of his colleagues. Perhaps it came from burlatsky slang modern language a word meaning big boss.
The workers were divided into indigenous and additional workers. The first ones were hired for the entire season. The latter were hired in some cases when additional help was required.
“Eh, cudgel, let’s whoop”
Barge haulers - who are they? A group of workers pulling a ship with a rope. This work was extremely hard and monotonous. Only a tailwind made the work of the barge haulers a little easier. Among representatives of this profession, a tradition has arisen of starting a song at the most difficult moment. This probably made the labor of the hauliers less monotonous. The most famous song- “Eh, little club, let’s whoop.”
Russian composer Rachmaninoff based folk motifs wrote "Burlatskaya". Work amazingly reflects the plight of hired workers. The bitter fate of the men who pulled the burden (this expression in the 19th and 20th centuries was used specifically in relation to barge haulers) inspired and modern authors. For example, Boris Grebenshchikov. In the early nineties, the “Russian Album” was released, in which one of the songs is called “Burlak”.
Forced labor
The barge haulers walked many kilometers. From time to time they made stops: rested, darned thin shirts. They left behind a smoldering fire, broken bast shoes, and sometimes even a rough-hewn grave cross. Not everyone could physically withstand hard work strong man. Although there were also women among representatives of this profession.
The barge hauler's documents were taken away. He became a forced force. Until the very end of the route, the worker was in complete obedience to the owner of the ship. I got up at dawn and had to move throughout the whole day without the slightest delay. Barge haulers often encountered robbers, whom they had to brutally fight off.
"Barge Haulers on the Volga"
In 1869, Repin worked on the painting “Job and His Friends.” He created sketches for it on the banks of the Neva River. There he saw barge haulers for the first time. These people made an indelible impression on the artist, primarily due to their contrast with picturesque nature and cheerful summer residents. Then Repin made the first watercolor sketch. In 1870, the artist created a pencil drawing, which today is in one of the country's main museums - the Tretyakov Gallery.
Based on this sketch he wrote in 1873 oil painting"Barge Haulers on the Volga". The artist worked in Samara. He not only made sketches, but also communicated with local residents, asked about their lives. True, Repin later admitted that their life was of little interest to him. He asked questions in order to give seriousness to his case. Repin was truly struck by one of the barge haulers. It was a shorn priest with sad eyes and a wonderfully tied rag on his head - one of the characters in the painting, which is now in the Russian Museum.
The truth about barge haulers
There is a version that Repin exaggerated his colors somewhat. Burlatsky's fate was not as hopeless as he depicted it in one of his most famous paintings.
The images on Repin’s canvas are lively and emotional. When you look at the picture, you get a clear impression of barge haulers. But in reality, the life of these hard workers was not so difficult.
There was a drum on the barge. A cable was wound on it, to which anchors were attached. The movement began when people got into the boat, took the towline with them and began to sail upstream. The barge haulers were on the barge. What the famous Russian artist described did not always happen. Only if one of the workers, namely the pilot, ran a barge aground.
Repin's painting depicts exhausted, exhausted people. They are dressed in old torn clothes. It seems that the barge haulers did the hard work practically for free. In reality, representatives of this profession were far from poor. They made good money during the summer season.
Every day the barge hauler received bread, butter, meat, salt, sugar, tea, cereals and tobacco. After lunch I always rested. And most importantly, he worked voluntarily. After working for several months, he had the opportunity to do nothing during the winter.
Almost every painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin has its own fascinating story, because rarely any of them were written in one year. Usually three or four years, and sometimes more, passed between the idea and its final implementation. The meaning of what is happening in the picture was expressed in a certain scene, and therefore general composition The canvas was clearly outlined already in the first sketches, and then only refined or slightly changed.
This was the case with “Barge Haulers on the Volga” - a painting that I.E. Repin created it at the age of 29, while still a student at the Academy of Arts. At that time, he was working on academic plots - “Job and His Friends” and “The Resurrection of Jairus’s Daughter”, and a seemingly random event led him to the idea of “Barge Haulers”.
In 1868, I. Repin and his fellow student K. Savitsky went to sketch in Ust-Izhora. Once they saw, next to the festively dressed ladies and men walking along the shore, a tattered and sun-blackened gang of barge haulers pulling a heavy barge. “Oh God, why are they so dirty and ragged!” exclaimed the artist. “One has a torn trouser leg dragging on the ground and his bare knee is sparkling; , hanging on them in stripes, and you can’t even make out either the color or the material from which they are made. Here are the rags that fit into the strap of the chest, worn red, bare and brown from the sun; sometimes only a heavy glance flashes from under the strands. hanging tangled hair, sweaty faces shining, and shirts darkened through and through. This is the contrast with this clean, fragrant flower garden of the gentlemen.”
This scene struck I. Repin so much that from that moment the artist became fascinated with the theme of “Barge Haulers” for a long time. Either he sketched a sketch where a string of barge haulers alone rises to the shore, then he wrote a sketch (which has not reached us, but was seen by the artist F. Vasiliev), in which the entire picture he saw appears.
It would seem that there could be nothing poetic in the topic chosen by I. Repin by chance. Some of the artist’s friends argued that barge haulers harnessed to a strap could only evoke pity and sympathy in the viewer, nothing more... But the artist was able to express in his painting deep feelings and thoughts that captivate the viewer.
For the picture to be true, in 1870 I.E. Repin went to the Volga, where he could observe the life of the people more closely, get acquainted with their work and way of life, and see the beauty of that Russian character, which later received its expression in the picture. He wanted not only to look at barge haulers and draw them, but also to live among them and get to know them better.
After a trip to the Volga I.E. Repin abandoned straightforward and obsessive denunciation, in which rational didactics and dry far-fetchedness could appear. His attention was attracted primarily by people with difficult fate, in all the diversity and richness of their characters. He dedicated his painting to them, he made them speak on his canvas.
On the Volga, “I also saw the mixed collective efforts of people and cattle of both sexes, pulling the same towlines of incredible length; groups of these barge haulers were silhouetted over high cliffs and made up a very sad addition to a very sad landscape.”
A dark, pre-storm sky, covered with heavy and gloomy clouds... In the gap between them, a piece of clear sky peeks out and the dazzlingly bright rays of the setting sun pour in. They pave a bright, sparkling road along the cold leaden surface of a silent river. Against the background of this bright spot, but immersed in the darkness of the cloud hanging above them, the dark silhouettes of people stand out - slowly, with great effort, climbing the steep slope of the hill. They can hardly lift their feet from the ground, stuck in the damp, shifting sand, and with each step they become more and more exhausted.
This is how I. Repin depicted barge haulers in his first Volga sketch, briefly but very emotionally recreating in it the picture that excited him. This pencil sketch became Starting point, from which further searches for the artist began.
I.E. Repin did not stop at the first sketch, although subsequently he often turned to it and creatively reworked it. At the end of June 1870, he settled in Shiryaev, where he spent the whole summer. Here he met one of his favorite heroes, Kanin, and here he wrote many sketches for his “Barge Haulers” and made many sketches. In Shiryaevo, the artist plunged into the very thick of barrow life. Now it was no longer fleeting impressions, but close communication with the barge crew that enriched I. Repin’s stock of life observations.
Drop by drop, line by line, the artist sought out, collected, saved, so that his wonderful Kanin would later emerge - “the pinnacle of the burlatsky epic,” as I. Repin himself called him. “There was something oriental, ancient about him,” said the artist. “But the eyes, the eyes! What depth of the gaze, raised to the eyebrows, which also tend to the forehead... And the forehead is a large, smart, intelligent forehead; this is not a simpleton ".
Kanin - a priest with a robed priest, a man of unusual destiny - personified in the picture and in life best features folk character: wisdom, philosophical mindset, perseverance and mighty strength.
Kanin’s entire appearance, right down to the rag on his head and the curled hair at his neck, aroused I. Repin’s delight. “Nothing could be more typical of this real barge hauler for my plot,” he wrote in his autobiographical book “Far and Close.” Here Kanin is at the head Burlatsk artel next to the huge giant and black-bearded “fighter” Ilka the Sailor.
There is another image among the barge haulers - the village boy Larka, who emphasizes a lot in the spiritual essence of Kanin. Yes, they really do have a lot in common: first of all, an inquisitive, insightful mind, rebellion, spiritual pride and dignity. Personality Traits they reveal, as if in opposition: youth, childish purity, the fragility of Larka, his impatient youthful impetuosity, intolerance coming from inexperience - and Kanin’s masculinity, accumulated over the years worldly wisdom, endurance, endurance and perseverance in all life situations.
The Burlatsky gang is made up of people with different characters and destinies. Here, walking next to Larka, is an exhausted sick old man, wiping sweat from his forehead. The last barge hauler, barely walking, is somewhat behind. His hands hung limply, his face was lowered, only the circle of his cap was visible. But another person blithely lights a pipe, not at all thinking that the break he has taken increases the burden on others.
Along the banks of the Volga, under the scorching rays of the sun, 11 barge haulers are pulling a heavily loaded barge against the river flow. They move slowly, tired and exhausted. Their feet get stuck in deep sand, bright sun, cheerfully pouring deserted shores rivers and burning vegetation, mercilessly scorching their heads, and step by step they go forward and pull their strap. Mother Volga is infinitely long, endless and the hard way this gang.
In some images of barge haulers there is submission to fate, in others there is protest and embitterment, in others there is equanimity or innocence. And only in Kanin, as in a single alloy, did many characteristic features, inherent in each barge hauler individually. Kanin is the same as everyone else; next to Ilk the sailor he even looks like a man of average height; his compact, stocky figure doesn’t even seem to be particularly strong. But at the same time he is more significant than everyone else, as if he knows more than any of the others - not only all the ins and outs of life, but also that best share, that cloudless happiness that they all dream about...
The painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga" was initially shown at the exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in 1871, and then (after I.E. Repin's second trip to the Volga) in its final, significantly changed form - at an academic exhibition in
1873 Repin's "Barge Haulers" awakened the conscience and made one think about the fate of the people. F.M. Dostoevsky expressed the feelings that gripped him in front of the painting: “You can’t help but love them, these defenseless ones, you can’t leave without loving them. You can’t help but think that you really owe it to the people. I’ll remember 15 years!”
However, not all representatives of Russian society have the work of I.E. Repin was equally enthusiastic. Many took up arms against the artist, and the rector of the Academy of Arts, Professor Bruni, described the painting “as the greatest profanation of art.”
At the academic exhibition she appeared only in last days before it closes. And then the canvas came to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who bought “Burlakov” long before work on it was completed. Since then, the painting has been inaccessible to the general public, who could only see it at exhibitions.
In 1873, "Barge Haulers on the Volga" was sent to Vienna for the World Exhibition. One of the ministers, not knowing that the owner of the painting was the Grand Duke, who contributed to the appearance of the painting at the Vienna exhibition, was indignant at the artist: “Well, tell me, for God’s sake, what difficult thing pulled you to paint this picture? You must be a Pole? Well, what a shame - Russian! But I have already reduced this antediluvian method of transport to zero, and soon there will be no mention of it. And you are painting a picture, taking it to the World Exhibition in Vienna and, I think, dreaming of finding something. “some foolish rich man who will acquire for himself these gorillas, our bast shoes.”
However, in I. Repin’s painting, these barge haulers, despite their exhausting work, do not evoke pity in the viewer, and they do not need it. A powerful, as yet undiscovered force lives within them, and it seems that there is no obstacle that could hold it back and stand in its way.
"Barge Haulers on the Volga" is one of the most famous paintings the great Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930). The painting was created in the period 1870-1873. Art critics define the genre of this painting as naturalism with elements of critical realism.
Burlak - hired worker in Russia XVI- the beginning of the 20th century, who, walking along the shore (along the so-called towpath), pulled a river vessel against the current with the help of a towline. In the 18th-19th centuries, the main type of vessel driven by barge haulers was the bark. Burlatsky labor was seasonal. The boats were pulled along the “big water”: in spring and autumn. To fulfill the order, barge haulers united in artels. The work of a barge hauler was extremely hard and monotonous. The speed of movement depended on the strength of the tailwind or headwind. When there was a fair wind, a sail was raised on the ship (bark), which significantly accelerated movement. Songs helped the barge haulers maintain the pace of movement. One of the well-known barge haulers’ songs is “Eh, dubinushka, whoosh,” which was usually sung to coordinate the forces of the artel at one of the most difficult moments: moving the bark from its place after raising the anchor.
When Dostoevsky saw this painting by Ilya Repin “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” he was very happy that the artist did not put any social protest into it. In “The Diary of a Writer” Fyodor Mikhailovich noted: “... barge haulers, real barge haulers and nothing more. Not one of them shouts from the picture to the viewer: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you are in debt to the people!”
The first impression of the canvas is a group of exhausted people under the hot sun pulling a barge, overcoming the force of the flow of the great Russian river. There are eleven people in the gang, and each of them pulls a strap that cuts into the chest and shoulders. From the torn clothes it becomes clear that only extreme poverty can push a person into such work. Some barge haulers' shirts are so shabby that the strap simply rubbed right through them. However, people stubbornly continue to pull the ship by the rope.
If you look closely at the characters individually, you can see that each has their own character. Some have completely resigned themselves to their difficult fate, others are philosophically calm, because they understand that the season will end, and with it the hard work. But after this the family will no longer be in need.
The composition of the picture is built as if the barge haulers are walking towards the viewer. However, the people pulling the burden do not cover each other, so you can see that one of the characters lights a cigarette while the rest take on the entire load. However, all the gang members are calm, apparently due to great fatigue. They will treat their friend with the understanding that he now needs a little rest.
The central character walks with skill. This is an elderly barge hauler, apparently the leader of the gang. He already knows exactly how to calculate his strength, so he steps evenly. Despite the heat, he is wearing thick clothes, since he knows that a light shirt will quickly wear out during such work. His gaze reflected fatigue, and even some hopelessness, but at the same time, the awareness that the person walking would still be able to overcome the road.
WITH numerous criticism The then publicist Alexei Suvorin responded to Repin’s work. Despite this, many colleagues and people of that time accepted the picture enthusiastically, for example Kramskoy and Stasov. However, on world exhibition The painting was awarded only a bronze medal. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich really liked the painting, who bought it for three thousand rubles.
The main canvas measures 131.5 cm by 281 cm, the painting is located in the Russian Museum in the city Saint Petersburg, the smaller canvas “Barge Haulers Wading,” 1872, size 62 cm by 97 cm, is in the Tretyakov Gallery.
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but that was all. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the barge haulers’ path, so the place written by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Shishka - barge hauler foreman
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel that Repin captured, the big shot was the pop figure Kanin (sketches have been preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some of the characters). The foreman stood, that is, fastened his strap, in front of everyone and set the rhythm of the movement. The barge haulers took every step in sync with right leg, then pulling up the left one. This caused the whole artel to sway as it moved. If someone lost their step, people collided with their shoulders, and the cone gave the command “hay - straw”, resuming movement in step. Maintaining rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs required great skill from the foreman.
3. Podshishelnye - the closest assistants of the cones, hanging to the right and left of him. By left hand From Kanin comes Ilka the Sailor, the artel foreman who purchased provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. In Repin’s time it was 30 kopecks a day. For example, this is how much it cost to cross the whole of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo (not so little - all of Moscow in a cab, that is, a taxi). Behind the backs of the underdogs were those in need of special control.
4. “The bonded ones,” like a man with a pipe, managed to squander their wages for the entire voyage even at the beginning of the journey. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for grub and did not try very hard.
5. The cook and falcon headman (that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village boy Larka. Considering his duties more than sufficient, Larka sometimes made a row and defiantly refused to pull the strap.
6. “Hack workers”
In every artel there were also simply careless people. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting someburdens on the shoulders of others
.
7. "Overseer"
The most conscientious barge haulers walked behind, urging the hacks on.
8. Inert or inflexible
Inert or inert - this was the name of the barge hauler, who brought up the rear. He made sure that the line did not catch on the rocks and bushes on the shore. The inert one usually looked at his feet and rested to himself so that he could walk at his own rhythm. Those who were experienced but sick or weak were chosen for the inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of barge. These were used to transport Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal oil, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) up the Volga. The artel was based on the weight of the loaded ship at the rate of approximately 250 poods per person. A load that is pulled up the river 11 barge haulers, weighing at least 40 tons. The order of the stripes on the flag was not taken too seriously, and was sometimes raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water tanker
The pilot is the man at the helm, in fact the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire artel combined, gives instructions to the barge haulers and maneuvers both the steering wheel and the blocks that regulate the length of the towline. Now the bark is making a turn, going around the shoal.
Vodoliv is a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, and bears financial responsibility for them during loading and unloading. According to the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12. Becheva - a cable to which barge haulers lean. While the barge was being led along the steep yar, that is, right next to the shore, the line was pulled out about 30 meters. But the pilot loosened it, and the bark moved away from the shore. In a minute, the line will stretch like a string and the barge haulers will have to first restrain the inertia of the vessel, and then pull with all their might. At this moment, the big shot will begin to chant: “Here we go and lead, / Right and left they intercede. / Oh once again, once again, / Once again, once again...” and so on, until the artel gets into a rhythm and moves forward.
14. The sail rose with a fair wind, then the ship sailed much easier and faster. Now the sail is removed, and the wind is headwind, so it’s harder for the barge haulers to walk and they can’t take a long step.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate Volga barks with intricate carvings. It was believed that it helps the ship rise against the current. The country's best specialists in ax work were engaged in barking. When steamships displaced wooden barges from the river in the 1870s, craftsmen scattered in search of work, and wooden architecture Central Russia The thirty-year era of magnificent carved frames has begun. Later, carving, which required high skill, gave way to more primitive stencil cutting. 
IN Western Europe(for example, in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, as well as in Italy), the movement of river vessels with the help of manpower and draft animals continued until the thirties of the 20th century. But in Germany, the use of manpower ceased in the second half of the 19th century. There were also women's artels.
