Sitting With a Bandura: The Folk Painting “Cossack Mamai”
A Cossack sitting cross-legged and playing a bandura, with a horse, an oak tree, and weapons nearby: this is “Cossack Mamai,” a folk painting that decorated the walls, doors, and chests of Ukrainian homes in the 17th–19th centuries. Drawing on an entry in a Ukrainian historical encyclopedia, this article traces the painting’s fixed composition, the figures added from the mid-18th century, the name “Mamai,” and the form it reached by the late 18th century.
In the middle of a steppe, a Cossack sits cross-legged, playing a bandura. Beside him are a horse, an oak tree, weapons, a pipe, and a bottle of drink. Paintings like this are called “Cossack Mamai” (Козак Мамай, Kozak Mamai) or “Cossack bandura player” (козак-бандурист), a form of folk painting that decorated Ukrainian homes in the 17th–19th centuries.
What follows is based on the entry ““Kozak Mamai,” “kozak-bandurist”” (written by Iryna Laska) in volume 4 (2007) of the Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine (Енциклопедія історії України), published by the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as of September 2026.
Painted to a Fixed Type
According to the encyclopedia, the painting follows a traditional composition. At the center sits a Cossack holding a bandura, in a fixed, unmoving pose. Over time, side scenes and figures were added to the painting, but the central figure’s seated pose never changed. Researchers see this single-figure composition as the older form.
As for the origin of the seated pose, the encyclopedia writes that researchers trace it to Eastern iconography, and also point to similarities with Scythian-era art and with even older works. This is presented as the researchers’ own view.
The Form That Took Shape by the End of the 18th Century
The encyclopedia states that the final form of “Cossack Mamai” took shape by the end of the 18th century. That form is as follows.
- A young face, wide-open eyes, a long mustache, a single lock of hair left at the crown (an oseledets), and lavish clothing
- Sitting with legs crossed, alone on the steppe, lost in thought, playing the bandura
- Depicted alongside him: a war horse, a green oak tree, the Cossack’s weapons, a hat, a pipe, and a bottle and cup of drink
Red is the dominant color, combined with shades of black, ochre, and green. The encyclopedia explains that the lines are smooth and rounded, the expression is simple, and the mood of the Baroque period comes through.
How the Name “Mamai” Was Added
According to the encyclopedia, from the mid-18th century, under the influence of the Haidamaky (an armed popular movement of the 18th century), other figures began to be drawn into the painting. Many of these figures are small and have little connection to the central figure, acting out scenes such as drinking, dancing, brawling, firing guns, or cooking fish soup.
Around the same time, the verses that had characteristically been written at the bottom of earlier paintings disappeared, and the Cossack came to be given the name “Mamai,” the encyclopedia writes. Many of those verses had been humorous, built by adding various words to the monologue of a Cossack figure from the Vertep puppet-theater comedy.
On the origin of the name “Mamai,” the encyclopedia states only that “according to one theory, it was the surname of one of the Haidamaky leaders,” without asserting this as fact. The name subsequently carried over to copies of the older “Cossack bandura player” paintings as well, and became fixed across all versions of the painting.
The encyclopedia writes that, in popular consciousness, the leaders and participants of the uprising known as the Koliivshchyna were seen as heroes, and cites an 1858 painting that depicts Maksym Zalizniak, one of the uprising’s leaders, in the same pose as “Cossack Mamai,” with a bandura.
Painted on Walls, Doors, and Chests
According to the encyclopedia, paintings of the Cossack bandura player were the most popular type of painting in Ukrainian lands in the 17th–19th centuries. They were especially common in the Poltava, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions, and less common on the Right Bank (west of the Dnipro River).
The encyclopedia writes that peasants, descendants of ordinary Cossacks, decorated their homes with this painting, and also painted the figure of the Cossack bandura player on house doors and walls, chests (boxes used to store clothing), stove tiles, and vessels.
| Period | Change noted by the encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| 17th–19th centuries | The most popular painting in Ukrainian lands; especially common in the Poltava, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions |
| From the mid-18th century | Under the influence of the Haidamaky movement, side figures and scenes are added; the verses at the bottom disappear and the name “Mamai” is added |
| End of the 18th century | The single figure with a young face, long mustache, and cross-legged pose playing a bandura takes final shape |
| Early 19th century | Paintings appear showing a petty nobleman in urban dress offering drink beside the Cossack, or girls dancing, among other scenes |
Why Is He Sitting Alone, Playing?
The encyclopedia assesses this painting as having, through strong generalization, taken on symbolic meaning: it preserves the historical memory of the common people and expresses the ideal of a calm guardian defending his own land. As for why the figure holds weapons yet is not fighting, and instead appears lost in thought, the encyclopedia writes that researchers see this as reflecting the fact that the form took shape after the free era of the Cossacks already lay in the past.
The Cossack era and its end are covered in our article on the end of Cossack self-government and the ban on Ukrainian-language publishing, and the bandura instrument and its singers in our article on the blind, traveling kobzar singers and the bandura.
Sources and article record
Sources and references
- ““Kozak Mamai,” “kozak-bandurist””the composition, views on the origin of the pose, changes from the mid-18th century, the verses, one theory on the origin of the name, the late-18th-century form, the colors, its spread in the 17th–19th centuries, and where it was depicted. Written by Laska I. M., in the “Enciklopedia istoriyi Ukrayiny,” vol. 4, 2007
Published by Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine · Checked: 2026-09-24
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