The artist is Losev
Prince Mikhail Chernigov (1179–1246).
The Mongol invasion (1237–1240) and the establishment of vassal dependence on the Horde made new shades in the relationship between the princes, which previously continuously rival with each other. Now, for a table occupied in a particular city, they were forced to go to the Khan’s rate to get a label – letters for reigning.
In 1239, when Mikhail reigned in Kyiv, he made an unforgivable mistake: he ordered the Mongol ambassadors to kill the city. This incident, as it turned out later, has become a fatal for him. In 1246, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, who then reigned in Chernigov, was summoned to the Golden Horde to receive a khan label, confirming the right to reign. The prince and his associate arrived with him, the boyar Theodore, was ordered before appearing to the khan, to go through a cleansing bonfire and bow to pagan gods – the sun and fire. In response to this requirement, Mikhail Chernigov said: “The Christian bows only to God, the creator of the world, and not the creatures”. Khan Baty, who had long been looking for an opportunity to deal with the obstinate prince, plunged Mikhail and Theodore with brutal torture, after which he ordered them to be decapitated. The artist conveyed that dramatic moment when the prince, faithful to his Christian duty, resolutely rejects the harassment of the Mongols and thereby decides his fate. Both Mikhail and Theodore were glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in the face of martyrs in 1547. (P. To., E. Sh.).