Repin, Ilya Yefimovich, 1844-1930, Russian historical and genre painter and sculptor. He studied in St. Petersburg and abroad and became the foremost representative of the realistic style in Russia. In his Volga Boatmen, The Arrest of a Political Offender, and The Terrorists Repin expressed criticism of the social order. His large historical paintings, e.g., Ivan the Terrible and The Cossacks Drafting a Letter to the Sultan, are his best-known works. Most of his pictures are in the museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

(born Aug. 5, 1844, Chuguyev, Russia—died Sept. 29, 1930, Kuokkala, Fin.) Russian painter. After training with a provincial icon painter and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, he visited France and Italy on an academy scholarship. On his return he began painting subjects from Russian history. In 1873 he achieved international fame with Volga Boatmen, a grim, powerful image that became the model for Soviet Socialist Realism. Among his best-known works is Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1895), depicting Ivan's murder of his son. He also painted vigorous portraits (including Leo Tolstoy and Modest Mussorgsky). In 1894 he became professor of historical painting at the St. Petersburg Academy.

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Ilya, Iliya, Ilja, or Ilia is the Russian-language form of the male name Elijah, meaning "My god is He". It is pronounced with stress on the second syllable. The diminutive form is Ilyusha or Ilyushenka. The Russian patronymic for a son of Ilya is "Ilyich", and a daughter is "Ilyinichna".

Ilya is also a Kurdish name meaning great and glorious.

Famous namesakes

Mythical/biblical figures

• Ilya Muromets, Russian folk hero
• Elijah, a Hebrew prophet of the ninth century BC
• Elias, another name for the prophet Elijah (St Ilya in Russian)
• Ilya Kuryakin, a main character in the TV show "Man from U.N.C.L.E."

Real people

• Ilya Ilf, Russian author of Twelve Chairs and the Golden Calf
• Ilya Bryzgalov, ice hockey player
• Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize-winning physicist
• Ilya Mechnikov, Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist
• Ilya Yefimovich Repin, Russian painter
• Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer and Soviet cultural ambassador
• Ilya Kovalchuk, ice hockey player
• Ilya Ulyanov, father of Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin
• Ilya Tchaikovsky, father of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Ilya Salkind, movie producer
• Ilya Kogan, Famous debt advisor
• Ilya Proplayer, godlike cryer diablo 2 player

Music

• Ilya (Bristol band), from Bristol
• Ilya (San Diego band)

Related

• Branch, in East African languages
• "There is" (il y a), in French