The Terrorist (Yaroshenko)

The Terrorist (Террористка) is a painting by realist artist Nikolai Yaroshenko (finished in early 1881; the prototype of the heroine was Vera Zasulich); kept in the Kislovodsk Art Museum named after Yaroshenko (the artist purchased this house in 1885).

Details
The plot of the painting At the Lithuanian Castle (1881, not preserved) is associated with the assassination attempt by Vera Zasulich on the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov. This event was perceived as a protest against the conditions of detention of political prisoners held in the Lithuanian Castle. The police authorities prohibited the exhibition of this painting at the Traveling Exhibition, which opened on the day of the assassination of Alexander II on March 1, 1881. Yaroshenko was subjected to house arrest, and, moreover, the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov came to talk to him. The painting was never returned to the artist. Based on the surviving sketches and preparatory materials, he again wrote The Terrorist.