Editing Taras Shevchenko (section)

==Life==
===Childhood and youth===
[[File:Шевченко Т. Г. Хата батьків у Кирилівці (1843).jpg|thumb|Taras Shevchenko's pencil sketch of his parents' house in Kyrylivka, drawn in 1843]]
Taras Shevchenko was born on {{OldStyleDate|9 March|1814|25 February}}{{efn|1=Note #10 in the parish register of Moryntsi for 1814 (preserved in the Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv): "{{tooltip|In the year one thousand eight hundred fourteen, on the twenty fifth of February, a son, Taras, was born to the resident of the village Morinets Grigori Shevchenko and his wife Catherine...|Тысяча восемьсот четырнадцатого года февраля двадцать пятого числа у жителя села Моринец Григория Шевченко и его жены Екатерины родился сын Тарас…}}"{{sfn|Shevchenko|1982|loc=volume 3}}}} in the village of [[Moryntsi]], [[Kiev Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]],<ref name="Ant">{{cite web |last1=Antokhii |first1=Myroslav |first2=Daria |last2=Darewych |first3=Marko Robert |last3=Stech |first4=Danylo Husar |last4=Struk |title=Shevchenko, Taras |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CH%5CShevchenkoTaras.htm |website=Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies |access-date=13 September 2023 |archive-date=18 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918073637/https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CS%5CH%5CShevchenkoTaras.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> about 20 years after the third [[partitions of Poland|partition of Poland]] wherein the territory of Ukraine where Shevchenko was born was annexed by [[Imperial Russia]]. He was the third child after his sister Kateryna and brother Mykyta; his younger siblings were a brother, Yosyp, and a sister, Maria, who was born blind.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=4}} His parents were Kateryna <!-- Yakymivna --> Shevchenko (née Boiko){{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=4}} and Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko, former subjects of the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] who became [[Russian serfdom|serf]] peasants, working the land owned by {{Ill|Vasily Engelhardt (senator)|lt=Vasily Engelhardt|uk|Енгельгардт Василь Васильович}}, a nephew of the Russian statesman [[Grigory Potemkin]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=7}}

In 1816, the family moved to Kyrylivka (modern {{Ill|lt=Shevchenkove |Shevchenkove (Zvenigorod district)|uk|Шевченкове (Звенигородський район)}}), another village owned by Engelhardt, where Taras's father and grandfather had been born. The boy grew up in the village.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=4}} Once, he went looking for "the pillars that prop up the sky" and got lost. [[Chumak]]s (travelling merchants) who met the boy took him back to the village.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=7}} From 1822, Shevchenko was sent to a school, where he was taught to read and write. His teacher was the [[precentor]] of the village church, whose nickname was "Sovhyr". He was a harsh disciplinarian, who had a tradition of [[birching]] the children in his class every Saturday.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=9}} 

On {{OldStyleDate|1 September|1823|20 August}} Kateryna Shevchenko died.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=9}} The widowed Hryhoriy, left to look after six children aged from thirteen to four, had little choice but to remarry. He was married to Oksana Tereshchenko, a widow from Moryntsi, who had three children of her own.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=10}} 

When Hryhoriy Shevchenko became a [[chumak]], Taras travelled twice with his father and his older brother away from his neighbourhood and, for the first time in his life, on to the open [[steppe]].{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=11}} Hryhoriy died from a chill on {{OldStyleDate|2 April|1825|21 March}},{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=12}} and for a period the children's stepmother ruled the family, treating Taras and those siblings still at the family home with great cruelty, until she was expelled by their grandfather, Ivan Shevchenko. For a period Taras lived with his grandfather and his father's brother Pavlo, and was made to work as a swineherd and a groom's assistant.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=13}} At the age of 12, he left home to work as a student assistant and a servant for a drunkard named Bohorsky, who had replaced Sovhyr as the village precentor and teacher and was even more violent than his predecessor. One of Shevchenko's duties was to read [[psalms]] over the dead. He was treated still more violently by Bohorsky once the boy's stepmother became his mistress.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=14}}

In February 1827, the 13-year-old Shevchenko escaped from the village and worked for a few days for a [[deacon]] in [[Lysianka]], before moving on to Tarasivka. Frustrated in his attempts to become an artist, he returned to his home village.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=15}} At around this time, Shevchenko experienced his first love, {{Ill|Oksana Kovalenko|uk|Коваленко Оксана Степанівна}}, as confirmed by a dedication he later wrote in the poem ''{{Ill|Mariana, the nun|uk|Мар'яна-черниця}}'':{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=18}}

{{Poem quote
|text=It is true, Oksana, alien and black-browed, 
That you will not remember the orphan 
Who, in a grey jacket, was so happy 
To see a wonder - your beauty,
Whom you taught, without talk or words, 
How to speak with the eyes, soul and heart, 
With whom you smiled, cried, and worried, 
To whom you loved to sing a song about Petrus. 
You will recall... Oksana, Oksana!
But I still cry today and I still worry, 
I pour out my tears for the little Mariana 
While I look at you and pray for you. 
Remember, Oksana, alien and black-browed, 
And deck sister Mariana with flowers. 
Sometimes smile happily at Petrus
And, even jokingly, remember what happened.
|char=
|sign=Taras Shevchenko
|source=<!-- or 4= -->{{lang|uk|Povne}} I
|title=<!-- or: 3= -->{{lang|uk|Mariana, the nun}}
}}

There is evidence that during this period of his life, Shevchenko  was trained by his older brother Mykola to become a [[wheelwright]], and that he also lived with and worked for the family of Hryhoriy Koshytsia, the Kyrylivka priest, who treated Taras well. His duties included driving the priest's son to school, and transporting fruit to markets in Burty and [[Shpola]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=16}}

===Life as a servant of Pavel Engelhardt===
[[File:1833 - Taras Shevchenko - Pavlo Engelgardt - portrait -.jpg|thumb|right|Taras Shevchenko. ''Portrait of Pavlo Engelgardt'' (1833), [[National Museum Taras Shevchenko]]]]
In 1828, Engelhardt died, and one of his sons, {{Ill|Pavlo Engelhardt|lt=Pavel Engelhardt|uk|Енгельгардт Павло Васильович}}, became the Shevchenko family's new landlord. Taras Shevchenko, then aged 14, was trained to become a kitchen servant and the {{lang|ru|kozachok}} (court servant) of his new master at the Vilshana estates.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|pp=16, 19}} There he saw for the first time the luxuries of the [[Russian nobility]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=20}}

In 1829, Shevchenko was part of Engelhardt's retinue that travelled to [[Warsaw]], where his regiment was based.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=21}} By the end of 1829 they had reached Vilno (modern [[Vilnius]]). On {{OldStyleDate|18 December|1829|6 December}}, Engelhardt caught Shevchenko at night painting a portrait of the [[Cossack]] general [[Matvei Platov]]. He boxed the boy's ears and ordered him to be whipped.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=22}} When the party reached Warsaw, Engelhardt arranged for his servant to be apprenticed to a painter-decorator, who, recognising the boy's artistic talents, recommended he receive lessons from the Polish painter and professional artist, [[Franciszek Ksawery Lampi]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=24}} 

When the [[November Uprising]] broke out in 1830, Engelhardt and his regiment were forced to leave Warsaw. His servants, including Shevchenko, were later expelled from the city, forced to leave Polish territory under armed guard, and then made their way to [[St. Petersburg]]. Upon arriving there, Shevchenko returned to the life of being a page-boy. His artistic training was delayed for a year,{{sfn|Buraček|1939|pp=25{{ndash}}27}} after which he was permitted to study for four years with the painter {{ill|Vasiliy Shiriayev|uk|Ширяєв Василь Григорович}}, a man who proved to be much more cruel and controlling than his master in Warsaw.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|pp=28{{ndash}}29}} The summer nights were light enough for Shevchenko to visit the city's [[Summer Garden]], where he drew the statues.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=24}} 

 <!-- He started writing poetry in the city. In 1833, he painted a portrait of Engelgardt.
 -->
In his novel ''Artist'', Shevchenko described that during the pre-academical period he painted such works as ''Apollo Belvedere'', ''Fraklete'', ''[[Heraclitus]]'', ''Architectural barelief'', and ''Mask of Fortune.'' He participated in the painting of the [[Bolshoi Theatre]] as an apprentice.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=13}} The composition ''Alexander of Macedon shows trust towards his doctor Philip'' was created for a contest of the [[Imperial Academy of Arts]] in 1830.{{sfn|Petrov|1865|p=251}}

===Liberation from serfdom===
[[File:Bryullov portrait of Zhukovsky.jpg|thumb|[[Karl Briullov]], ''Portrait of the poet V.A. Zhukovsky'' (1837/8), [[National Museum Taras Shevchenko]]]]
During one of his copying sessions in the city's Summer Gardens, Shevchenko made the acquaintance of a young Ukrainian artist, [[Ivan Soshenko]], a painter and a student of the [[Imperial Academy of Arts]], who came from [[Bohuslav]], close to Shevchenko's home village. Soshenko showed in an interest in Shevchenko's drawings, and recognised the young man's talent.<ref name="Ukr2">{{cite web|title=Soshenko, Ivan|url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=/pages/s/o/soshenkoivan.htm|website=Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine|publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies|access-date=15 September 2023|archive-date=18 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918073636/https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=/pages/s/o/soshenkoivan.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Manning|1960|pp=1{{ndash}}2}}{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=31}} He was allowed to receive drawing and [[watercolour painting]] lessons from Soshenko on weekends, and when he had spare time during the week. Shevchenko made such progress as a [[portraitist]] that Engelhardt asked him to portray several of his mistresses.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=31}} 

Soshenko took Shevchenko to Saint Petersburg's art galleries, including the [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=32}} He introduced him to other compatriots, such as the writer and poet [[Yevhen Hrebinka]], the art historian {{Ill|Vasyl Hryhorovych|uk|Григорович Василь Іванович}}, and the Russian painter [[Alexey Venetsianov]].<ref name="Ant" /> Through these men, around June 1832, Shevchenko was introduced to the most fashionable painter of the day, the artist [[Karl Briullov]].{{sfn|Manning|1960|pp=1{{ndash}}2}}{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=34}} Briullov took an interest in Shevchenko, praising his work and indicating a willingness to take him on as a student. However, as a serf, Shevchenko was ineligible to study under Briullov at the Academy, who requested his freedom from Engelhardt. The request was met with a refusal, which enraged Briullov.{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=34}} 

Engelhardt was persuaded to release his servant on condition that a fee of 2500 [[ruble]]s was paid. To raise this sum, Briullov painted a portrait of the Russian poet [[Vasily Zhukovsky]] as a [[lottery]] prize for the imperial family; the winning lottery ticket was drawn by the [[tsarina]].{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=37}}{{efn|1=The letters by Zhukovsky asking for payment were illustrated by his own drawings, with captions: This is Mr Shevchenko. He is talking to himself: 'I would like to paint a picture, but my master has ordered me to sweep the floor.'  / He is holding his paintbrush in one hand and a broom in the other. He is very upset.  / Here Briullov is painting Zhukovsky's portrait. In the distance Shevchenko is sweeping the floor. For the last time. / These are Shevchenko and Zhukovsky. Both are turning somersaults out of joy.'{{sfn|Buraček|1939|p=37}}}} Engelhardt signed the paperwork that released Shevchenko from serfdom on {{OldStyleDate|5 May|1838|22 April}}.{{sfn|Manning|1960|pp=1{{ndash}}2}}

===Initial success (1838–1846)===

====Paintings and drawings====
{{multiple image | direction = horizontal |align=| perrow=2 |total_width= 300| header = | footer = 
| image1 = Taras Shevchenko painting 0015.jpg | alt1 = aaa | caption1 =''{{Ill|Cossack Banquet|uk|Козацький бенкет (Шевченко)}}'' (pencil on paper, 1838), [[National Museum Taras Shevchenko]] 
| image2 = Taras Shevchenko painting 0029.jpg | alt2 =bbb | caption2 = ''{{Ill|Model in the Pose of St. Sebastian|uk|Натурщик у позі св. Себастіяна}}''  | image3 = Шевченко Т. Г. (1841) Циганка-ворожка.jpg | alt3 =bbb | caption3 = ''{{Ill|Gypsy Fortune Teller|uk|Циганка-ворожка (Шевченко)}}'' (1841)
 | image4 = Taras Shevchenko painting 0072.jpg | alt4 =bbb | caption4 =An illustration of [[King Lear]], produced in  ''Galvanography'' (1843)
}}
 <!-- | image5 = Red dot theory.png | alt5 =bbb | caption5 = dot 2
 -->
After he became a student of the [[Imperial Academy of Arts]], with Briullov as his [[mentor]], Shevchenko spent most of his time at the academy and in Briullov's [[studio]].{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}}{{sfn|Zhulynskyi|2015|pp=270{{ndash}}271}} Together they attended literary and musical evenings, and visited writers and artists. Shevchenko's social life enriched and expanded his horizons and stimulated his creativity.{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} His friends during this period included {{Ill|Yakov Kuharenko|uk|Кухаренко Яків Герасимович}}, a writer and officer of the [[Black Sea Cossack Host]] who was to become his friend for life,<ref name="Int3">{{cite web|title=Kukharenko, Yakiv|url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CU%5CKukharenkoYakiv.htm|website=Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine|publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies|access-date=17 September 2023|archive-date=18 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918072602/https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CU%5CKukharenkoYakiv.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and the artist {{Ill|Karl Joachim|ru|Иохим, Карл Иванович}},{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}}

From June to November 1838, Shevchenko's examination marks improved enough to allow him to join a compositional drawings class. An early drawing from this class, ''{{Ill|Cossack Banquet|uk|Козацький бенкет (Шевченко)}}'', was completed in December that year. The following month his work was recognised by the [[Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts]], who agreed to pay him a monthly maintenance fee of 30 rubles a month.<ref name="Bnf1">{{cite web |title=Taras Grigorovič Ševčenko (1814-1861) |url=https://data.bnf.fr/en/12194329/taras_grigorovic_sevcenko/ |website=BnF Data |publisher=[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] |access-date=17 September 2023 |archive-date=18 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918080246/https://data.bnf.fr/en/12194329/taras_grigorovic_sevcenko/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Zhur|2003|p=44{{ndash}}87}}

In April 1839, Shevchenko was awarded a silver medal by the Council of the Academy.{{sfn|Zhur|2003|p=44{{ndash}}87}} He began to master the technique of [[oil painting]], with ''{{Ill|The Model in the Pose of St. Sebastian|uk|Натурщик у позі св. Себастіяна}}'' being among his earliest attempts. From November, he became seriously ill with [[typhus]].{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} That year, he received another silver medal, this time for his oil painting ''The Beggar Boy Giving Bread to a Dog''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/docum02.htm|title=Документи 1–101. Тарас Шевченко: Документи та матеріали до біографії. 1814–1861.|website=litopys.org.ua|access-date=20 June 2020|archive-date=4 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804000656/http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/docum02.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 1841, the Academy of Arts awarded Shevchenko his third silver medal, for the painting ''{{Ill|The Gypsy Fortune Teller|uk|Циганка-ворожка (Шевченко)}}''. The following May, continual absenteeism from classes forced the Society for the Encouragement of Artists to exclude him from among its free boarders.{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}}{{sfn|Zhulynskyi|2015|pp=270{{ndash}}271}} To earn an income he produced book illustrations, such as for [[Nikolai Nadezhdin]]'s story ''The Power of Will'', {{Ill|Oleksandr Bashutskyi|uk|Башуцький Олександр Павлович}}'s publication ''Ours, written off from nature by the Russians'', an edition of [[Wolfgang Franz von Kobell]]'s ''Galvanography'' (1843),{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} and a book by [[Nikolai Polevoy]], ''Russian Generals'' (1845).{{sfn| Polevoy|1845|p=x}}

====Poetry====
[[File:1840 - Kobzar - page 3 - page 1 (Title) -.jpg|thumb|The first illustration and the title page from  ''[[Kobzar (book)|Kobzar]]'' (1840)]]
At the end of 1839, Shevchenko met the [[sculptor]] and art teacher [[Ivan Martos]], who showed great interest in his poems. He offered to publish them, but Shevchenko did not immediately agree. Hrebinka took an active and direct part in the publication of ''[[Kobzar (book)|Kobzar]]'' (1840); it was he who submitted the manuscript to the {{Ill|St. Petersburg censorship committee|ru|Петербургский цензурный комитет}}.{{sfn|Zhur|2003|p=44{{ndash}}87}} ''Kobzar'' sold out. It did not openly call for revolutionary actions, but it expressed a protest against social injustice and a desire for a free life.{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} 

In March 1840, Hrebinka submitted the manuscript of the [[almanac ]]''Lastivka'' to the censors, which also included Shevchenko's "Prychynna" and the poems "{{Ill|The wind is raging, the wind is raging!|uk|Вітре буйний, вітре буйний!}}" and "{{Ill|Water flows into the blue sea|uk|Тече вода в синє море}}".{{sfn|Kirilyuk|1974}} 
In 1841, Shevchenko paid for his [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] ''[[Haydamaky (poem)|Haidamaky]]''.{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}}{{sfn|Kirilyuk|1974}} The poem was met with sharp criticism by the literary critic [[Vissarion Belinsky]]; in the magazine ''[[Otechestvennye Zapiski]]'' he criticized Shevchenko's "inclination to romantic pompous ingenuity".{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} Other poems produced by Shevchenko during this period include "{{Ill|Maryana the Nun|uk|Мар'яна-черниця}}", "{{Ill|Drowned (ballad)|lt=Drowned|uk|Утоплена (балада)}}", and "{{Ill|Blind Man (poem)|lt=Blind Man|uk|Сліпа (поема Шевченка)}}".{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}}

While residing in Saint Petersburg, Shevchenko made three trips to [[Ukraine]]: in 1843, 1845, and 1846. The difficult conditions Ukrainians endured had a profound impact on the poet-painter. Shevchenko visited his siblings, still enserfed, and other relatives. He met with prominent Ukrainian writers and intellectuals [[Yevhen Hrebinka]], [[Panteleimon Kulish]], and [[Mykhaylo Maksymovych]], and was befriended by the princely [[Repnin]] family, especially Varvara.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In 1844, distressed by the condition of Ukrainian regions in the [[Russian Empire]], Shevchenko decided to capture some of his homeland's historical ruins and cultural monuments in an album of etchings, which he called ''[[Picturesque Ukraine]]''. Only the first six etchings were printed because of the lack of means to continue. An album of watercolors from historical places and pencil drawings was compiled in 1845.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://kobzar.ua/site/intro|title=Портал Шевченка|website=kobzar.ua|access-date=2021-09-08|archive-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008033155/http://kobzar.ua/site/intro|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Plays====
Shevchenko's play ''Blind Beauty'', written {{circa|1841}}, has not survived.{{sfn|Kirilyuk|Shablyuvs'ky|Shubravs'ky|1984|pp=52{{ndash}}80}} In 1842, he released a part of the tragedy {{lang|uk|Mykyta Haidai}} and, in 1843 he completed the drama ''{{Ill|Nazar Stodolia|uk|Назар Стодоля (п'єса)}}''.

In the autumn of 1842, Shevchenko planned a sea trip to Sweden and Denmark, but due to illness, he returned home after reaching Revel (modern [[Tallinn]]).{{sfn|Zhur|2003|p=44{{ndash}}87}}

===First trip to Ukraine===
[[File:У Києві.jpg|thumb|''In Kyiv'', one of the six [[etching]]s Shevchenko included in ''[[Picturesque Ukraine]]'' (1844)]]
In May 1843, Shevchenko travelled to Ukraine, where he met as many intellectuals, poets, and artists as possible, including the future [[Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius]] member [[Vasyl Bilozersky]].{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=101}}{{sfn|Bilyk|Galganova|2014|p=77}} During his stay in Kyiv, Shevchenko sketched the city's historical sights and landscapes. After a month he went to [[Yahotyn]], where he befriended the wealthy [[Repnin]] family.{{sfn|Bilyk|Galganova|2014|p=77}} In October 1843, he wrote his poem "{{Ill|The Dug Grave|uk|Розрита могила}}", after visiting recent [[Archaeological excavation|excavation]]s of [[burial mound]]s that many Ukrainians considered to be symbolic of the heroic past of the Cossacks.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=86}}

Shevchenko planned to publish an album, ''[[Picturesque Ukraine]]'', to consist of his annotated etchings of places and events connected with Ukraine and its past, and use the proceeds to buy his family their freedom. The Society for the Encouragement of Artists gave him 300 rubles to help produce ''Picturesque Ukraine'',{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|pp=105{{ndash}}106}} but due to his poor planning and lack of business skills, few of the intended etchings with their accompanying text were published, and not enough money was generated from sales to fulfill his dream of buying his siblings' freedom.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|pp=107{{ndash}}108}}

===Exile===
On 22 March 1845, the Council of the Academy of Arts granted Shevchenko the title of a non-classed artist. He again traveled to Ukraine where he met with historian [[Mykola Kostomarov]] and other members of the [[Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius]], a clandestine society also known as ''Ukrainian-Slavic society'' and dedicated to the political [[liberalization]] of the Empire and its transformation into a [[federation]]-like polity of Slavic nations.<ref name="Orlov report">{{cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/kmt03.htm|script-title=uk:Витяг зі справи М. І. Гулака – № 69. Доповідь О. Ф. Орлова Миколі I про діяльність Кирило-Мефодіївського Товариства і пропозиції щодо покарання його членів|trans-title=Excerpt from the file of M. I. Gulak – No. 69. Report by A. F. Orlov to Nicholas I on the activities of Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood and suggestions for the punishment of its members |language=ru |publisher=Litopys |date=26 May 1847|access-date=11 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219173649/http://litopys.org.ua/rizne/kmt03.htm |archive-date=19 February 2015}}</ref>

In 1844, Shevchenko wrote the poem "{{Ill|Dream (poem)|lt=Dream|uk|Сон (поема)}}" that described the social and national oppression of the Ukrainians by the Russian upper classes.{{sfn|Shevchenko |2003}} In February, he arrived back in Saint Petersburg from Ukraine.{{sfn|Zaĭt︠s︡ev|1988|p=104}} Copies of the poem were confiscated from the society's members and became one of the major issues of the scandal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/shev128.htm|script-title=uk:Сон|trans-title=The Dream|language=uk|publisher=Litopys|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219181841/http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/shev128.htm|archive-date=19 February 2015}}</ref>

Shevchenko was arrested together with the members of the society on 5 April 1847.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/russian-and-eastern-european-literature-biographies/taras-grigoryevich |title=Taras Shevchenko |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography |publisher=The Gale Group |date=2004 |access-date=9 March 2017 |archive-date=12 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312044124/http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/russian-and-eastern-european-literature-biographies/taras-grigoryevich |url-status=live }}</ref> Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] read Shevchenko's poem, "Dream". [[Vissarion Belinsky]] wrote in his memoirs that Nicholas I, knowing Ukrainian very well, laughed and chuckled whilst reading the section about himself, but his mood quickly turned to bitter hatred when he read about his wife. Shevchenko had mocked her frumpy appearance and facial tics, which she had developed fearing the [[Decembrist uprising]] and its plans to kill her family. After reading this section the Tsar indignantly stated "I suppose he had reasons not to be on terms with me, but what has she done to deserve this?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Belinsky|first=Vissarion|author-link=Vissarion Belinsky|url=http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/belinsky.htm|script-title=ru:Письмо В. Г. Белинского к П. В. Анненкову|trans-title=Letter from V. G. Belinsky to P. V. Annenkov|language=ru|publisher=Litopys|date=December 1847|access-date=13 November 2016|archive-date=4 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104182725/http://litopys.org.ua/shevchenko/belinsky.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Karevin|first=Aleksandr|script-title=ru:Мифы Украины: украинский "соловей"|trans-title=The myths of Ukraine: the Ukrainian "nightingale"|language=ru|url=http://xn--b1adccaencl0bewna2a.xn--p1ai/index.php/history/52-articles/10580|publisher=RusskoeDvizhenie.rf|date=6 August 2012|access-date=13 November 2016|archive-date=14 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114035807/http://xn--b1adccaencl0bewna2a.xn--p1ai/index.php/history/52-articles/10580|url-status=live}}</ref> 

[[File:1848 - 201 - Self-portrait at the Syr Darya bank. Rayim, June 1848, Taras Shevchenko.jpg|thumb|Shevchenko's self-portrait at the [[Syr Darya]] bank, June 1848]]
In the official report of [[Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov|Orlov]] Shevchenko was accused of composing poetry in "Little-Russian language" (an archaic Russian name for the [[Ukrainian language]])  of outrageous content, instead of being grateful to be redeemed out of [[serfdom]].<ref name="Orlov report"/> In the report, Orlov listed the crimes as advocating and inspiring Ukrainian nationalists, alleging enslavement and misfortune of [[Ukraine]], glorifying the [[Hetman of Zaporizhian Host|Hetman Administration]] ([[Cossack Hetmanate]]) and Cossack liberties and that he "with incredible audacity poured slander and bile on persons of Imperial House".<ref name="Orlov report"/>

While under investigation, Shevchenko was imprisoned in [[Saint Petersburg]] in [[casemates]] of the [[Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery|3rd Department of Imperial Chancellery]] on Panteleimonovskaya Street (today Pestelia str., 9). After being convicted, he was exiled as a [[Private (rank)|private]] to the Russian military garrison in [[Orenburg]]<ref name="Orlov report"/> at [[Orsk]], near the [[Ural Mountains]]. [[Tsar#Russia|Tsar]] Nicholas I personally confirmed his sentence,<ref>{{cite journal
 | title=The Present Crisis in Russia
 | journal=The North American Review
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | author-link=Peter Kropotkin
 | year=1901
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=407
 | access-date=10 November 2019
 | archive-date=7 November 2019
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107023444/http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=407
 | url-status=live
 }}</ref> added to it, "Under the strictest surveillance, without the right to write<ref name="Orlov report"/> or paint." He was subsequently sent on a forced march from Saint Petersburg to Orenburg and Orsk.{{cn|date=July 2023}}
[[File:Shevchenko-Dalismen.jpg|thumb|Dalismen-mule-village, 1851]]
The following year, 1848, he was assigned to undertake the first Russian naval expedition of the [[Aral Sea]] on the ship "Konstantin", under the command of Lieutenant Butakov. Although officially a common private, Shevchenko was effectively treated as an equal by the other members of the expedition. He was tasked to sketch various landscapes around the coast of the Aral Sea. After an 18-month voyage (1848–49), Shevchenko returned with his album of drawings and paintings to Orenburg. Most of those drawings were created for a detailed account of the expedition. Nevertheless, he created many unique works of art about the Aral Sea nature and Kazakhstan people at a time when [[Russian conquest of Central Asia]] had begun in the middle of the nineteenth century.<ref>{{cite web 
 | url         = https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1848-1849_-_Aral_Sea_-_Shevchenko_Butakoff_Maksheyev_%3D_e-book.pdf 
 | title         = Арал Тенгизи 1848–1849. Малюнки Тараса Шевченка. Денник Олексія Бутакова. Мандрівки Олексія Макшеєва. pdf. 
 | publisher         = Козак Невада, Наутілус. Львів, 2019 
 | language         = uk 
 | access-date         = 4 November 2019 
 | archive-date        = 29 August 2021 
 | archive-url         = https://web.archive.org/web/20210829230424/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1848-1849_-_Aral_Sea_-_Shevchenko_Butakoff_Maksheyev_%3D_e-book.pdf 
 | url-status         = live 
 }}</ref>
 
He was then sent to one of the worst penal settlements, the remote fortress of [[Fort Shevchenko|Novopetrovsk]] at Mangyshlak Peninsula, where he spent seven terrible years. In 1851, at the suggestion of fellow serviceman [[Bronisław Zaleski]], lieutenant colonel Mayevsky assigned him to the Mangyshlak (Karatau) geological expedition. In 1857, Shevchenko finally returned from exile after receiving amnesty from a new emperor, though he was not permitted to return to St. Petersburg and was forced to stay in [[Nizhniy Novgorod]].{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Shevchenko was eventually allowed to return to St. Petersburg. In the winter of 1858, he saw African-American Shakespearean actor [[Ira Aldridge]] perform with his troupe. Using translators, the two became good friends over discussions of art and music and their shared experiences of oppression. Shevchenko drew Aldridge's portrait. Aldridge was later gifted a portrait of Shevchenko by [[Mikhail Mikeshin]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Corbett |first=Demetrius M. |date=1964 |title=Taras Shevchenko and Ira Aldridge: (The Story of Friendship between the Great Ukrainian Poet and the Great Negro Tragedian) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2294581 |journal=The Journal of Negro Education |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=143–150 |doi=10.2307/2294581 |jstor=2294581 |issn=0022-2984|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kerziouk |first=Olga |date=24 October 2014 |title=Person from a portrait: Ira Frederick Aldridge, the first black Othello |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2014/10/person-from-a-portrait-ira-frederick-aldridge-the-first-black-othello-.html |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=blogs.bl.uk |language=en |archive-date=19 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319035633/https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2014/10/person-from-a-portrait-ira-frederick-aldridge-the-first-black-othello-.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 1859, Shevchenko got permission to return to [[Ukraine]]. He intended to buy a plot of land close to the village of Pekari. In July, he was again arrested on a charge of [[blasphemy]], but then released and ordered to return to St. Petersburg.
[[File:Grave of Taras Shevchenko. Postcard.jpg|thumbnail|Grave of Taras Shevchenko, [[Taras Hill]] near [[Kaniv]], historical postcard. The cross was dismantled by the Soviets in the 1920s.<ref>Андрій Тіток (6 December 2014), [http://svoboda.fm/culture/literature/235550.html Остання путь Кобзаря: як Чернігівщина прощалася з Тарасом Шевченком.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926041111/http://svoboda.fm/culture/literature/235550.html |date=26 September 2015}}</ref>]]

===Death===
Taras Shevchenko spent the last years of his life working on new poetry, paintings, and engravings, as well as editing his older works. He also created and financed the publication of a grammar book for Ukrainian children (''{{ill|Bukvar Yuzhnorussky|uk|Букварь южнорусскій}}''). After difficult years in exile, however, illnesses took their toll upon him. Shevchenko died in Saint Petersburg on 10 March 1861, the day after his 47th birthday.

He was first buried at the [[Smolensk Cemetery]] in Saint Petersburg. His funeral in Saint Petersburg was attended by such greats of Russian literature as [[Dostoevsky]], [[Turgenev]], [[Saltykov-Shchedrin]] and [[Nikolai Leskov|Leskov]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/russian-and-eastern-european-literature-biographies/taras-grigoryevich|title=Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko|access-date=23 April 2023|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404214107/https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/russian-and-eastern-european-literature-biographies/taras-grigoryevich|url-status=live}}</ref> However, fulfilling Shevchenko's wish, expressed in his poem "Testament" (''"Zapovit"''), to be buried in [[Ukraine]], his friends arranged the transfer of his remains by train to Moscow and then by horse-drawn wagon to his homeland. Shevchenko was re-buried on 8 May on the ''Chernecha hora'' (Monk's Hill; today [[Taras Hill]]) near the [[Dnipro River]] in [[Kaniv]]. A tall mound was erected over his grave, now a memorial part of the Kaniv Museum-Preserve.

Dogged by terrible misfortune in love and life, the poet died seven days before the [[Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia|1861 emancipation of serfs]] was announced. His works and life are [[Legacy of Taras Shevchenko|revered by Ukrainians throughout the world]] and his impact on [[Ukrainian literature]] is immense.