Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of the Ottoman Empire (1891) by Russian realism artist Ilya Repin is actually my husband’s favorite painting, although I like it, too. It depicts the Cossacks supposedly drafting a vulgar reply to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in 1676, who demanded their allegiance, even though they’d won the recent battle. The Cossacks are having a lot of fun thinking up the best insults, and the expressions on their faces are priceless. You can read more about this painting and the legend on Wikipedia.