1878. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Russian Art, Kiev, Ukraine. Read Note.
A Knight at Crossroads. In many Russian folk-tales there is such an episode when a traveling vityaz (knight) at the crossroads meets a rock with a not-very-much-inspiring choice:
If you go to the right – you'll loose your horse;
If you go to the left – you'll loose your life;
If you go forwards – you'll loose both…
Or a variation of these three.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. A Knight at the Crossroads.