Painting by Angelika Rasmus

Angelika Rasmus' painting which appeared in the book "Finland at War: the Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941–1945" (Osprey Publishing, 2016) was inspired by a well-known painting "The Defense of the Sampo" (1896) by Aksel Gallén that illustrates a passage from the Karelian-Finnish national epic "Kalevala".

The characters on the left are Finnish soldiers lead by Carl Gustaf Mannerheim. The sword in his hand is the sword mentioned in his famous orders of 1918 and 1941. In the upper right corner are the Soviet soldiers lead by Joseph Stalin.

On the Angelika Rasmus' illustration there is a character from another famous Finnish painting – "The Attack" (1899) by Edvrad Isto picturing the Russian double-headed eagle attacking the maiden (Finland) tearing a law book.