File talk:Ilia Efimovich Repin (1844-1930) - Volga Boatmen (1870-1873).jpg

Edit 23:08, 29 June 2007
It's worth making the point that the image is a story-picture, and that the above edit does serve to make the story clear. Steam ships and tugs were coming into their own in the 1870s, and the tug steaming up behind the burlaks and their ship symbolises the new technology which will relieve them of their onerous duty but will also put them out of work so that (by the look of them) they may starve. So I hope that any future editors will bear in mind that it is more useful to make the whole picture clear than to try to clarify one element of the picture (e.g. just the burlaks) at the expense of the rest. --Storye book (talk) 17:20, 22 January 2010 (UTC)