Russian artists quickly and efficiently responded to Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. They were faced with the task of popularizing the idea of the people's character of war, finding a form that would be understandable to the broadest strata of society. This form was the political "caricature of 1812", "flying sheets", as they were also called.
However, the authors of the best sheets are known. These are the painter Aleksey Gavrilovich Venetsianov, the graphic artist Ivan Alekseevich Ivanov and, perhaps, the most famous and active of the authors of the "flying leaves" Ivan Ivanovich Terebenev. It is I. I. Terebenev who is the creator of the alphabet presented here. He, not embarrassed by the "areal", as they said then, the common people character of the chosen genre, created about forty topical, effective, artistically interesting caricature pictures on the theme of the Patriotic War of 1812, on the basis of which the children's alphabet was created. At the end of 1814, these cartoons were engraved with etching in 1/16 of a leaf and painted with watercolors by hand.
The small ABC cards were supposed to reveal the picture of the war that had just passed before the eyes of the child. He learned about the courage and resourcefulness of ordinary Russian people, saw the corruption of the recently victorious French army, cowardice, looting, the shameful flight of its soldiers, learned to despise the invaders who encroached on the national independence of Russia.
From the pictures of the ABC, children learned about numerous examples of heroism and selflessness: about an old man who pretended to be deaf so as not to betray the French, where his fellow villagers were hiding, hiding from the enemy in the forest (the letter "A"), about the elder Vasilisa, who commanding her a peasant army, armed only with a scythe, took the French prisoners (letter "I-I"). Particularly touching is the episode captured on the sheet with the letter "O". It reminds us that even in the cruel trials of the war, the Russian people did not forget about kindness and humanity. Near the tent. at the cauldron of food, two Russian soldiers feed three Frenchmen. One of them is already eating, the other reaches for a piece, the third gratefully kisses the Russian soldier on the shoulder. Under the sheet, the inscription is full of dignity: “Only Ross in the enemy honors Christian blood. How terrible his revenge is, so sincere is his love.
Poetic signatures under the pictures of "ABC" probably belong to the pen of II Terebenev.
