worldpaintings:
Viktor Vasnetsov
The Flying Carpet (with detail), 1880, oil on canvas, 165 x 297 cm, Art Museum of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Viktor Vasnetsov was a Russian painter who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He was described as co-founder of folklorist/romantic modernism in the Russian painting and a key figure of the revivalist movement in Russian art.
A flying carpet, also called a magic carpet, is a legendary carpet that can be used to transport people who are on it. In Russian folk tales, Baba Yaga can supply Ivan the Fool or Ivan Tsarevich with a flying carpet or some other magical gifts. Such gifts help the hero to find his way “beyond thrice-nine lands, in the thrice-ten kingdom”.
This painting represents Ivan returning home after capturing the Firebird, which he keeps in a cage. This work was Vasnetsov’s first attempt at illustrating Russian folk tales and started a famous series of paintings on the themes drawn from Russian folklore.