Russian realist painter Ilya Repin was born on August 5, 1844. He studied drawing at the school of military topographers, and then mastered icon painting. The artist entered the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg from the second time, and soon after graduating, he returned there as a teacher. His major works include such masterpieces as Barge Haulers on the Volga, Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate and the Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901. TASS recalls one of the most remarkable members of the Russian realistic school of painting.