Tempera on paper. Graduation work at the S. P. Johanson St Petersburg Art Lyceum (Secondary Art School of the Russian Academy of Arts). This painting is more than a final student piece; it is an initiation into true artistry, a coming‑of‑age through the theme of national tragedy and unbending spirit. Created when the artist was only eighteen, its intellectual maturity, dramatic composition, and inner tension make it a landmark not only in the author’s school biography but within the broader tradition of Russian historical painting. The subject is deliberate: the retreat of the Second Volunteer Army along the Kaluga Road during the Time of Troubles—a moment of fear and strain in which strength is forged. It is neither triumph nor victory; it is defeat and withdrawal, yet here an unshakeable certainty is born: the truth is ours, the land is ours, and we will return. The artist goes beyond depicting commanders—Minin, Pozharsky, and other figures of the campaign—offering instead an epic cross‑section of society. Soldier, peasant, woman, youth, priest, merchant—all merge into a single, mournful, stubborn movement toward the country’s interior and future revival. Composition is anchored by a dense diagonal that draws the eye along the departing column into the “fog of history.” Contrasts of light and shadow, the rhythm of figures, silhouettes of weapons and banners, and the dusty gray palette of earth and sky evoke mute resolve and bitterness. There is no victorious gleam here—only Russian melancholy that is not despair but strength, rooted in soil, truth, and an unbroken spirit. The work took more than two years: from an initial twenty‑minute sketch noticed by a teacher to a multifigure composition infused with hours of life drawing, historical research, archival reading, and the search for authentic types. The artist, who had come from Abakan at fifteen, advanced from novice to mature painter; this canvas became the visual summation of his growth—both as artist and citizen. Tempera on paper—a medium that demands precision and focus—underscores the honesty and clarity of intent. Every stroke is deliberate; every figure bears its own story. The painting breathes a passionate, almost religious conviction in truth, in the nation’s historical destiny, in the idea that Russia is not a scattered host but a single body that cannot be broken even by momentary defeat. Presented as the artist’s diploma project, the piece crowned four years of study. Yet it is more than a conclusion: it is a declaration of future purpose, the young painter’s first major victory, and his entry into the grand historical and artistic discourse.