Leo Tolstoy's 186th Birth Anniversary Celebrated With a Google Doodle

Google on Tuesday is commemorating the 186th birth anniversary of Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author and philosopher, with a slideshow doodle showcasing his greatest works. The doodle is visible across the globe, and was created by Russian illustrator, Roman Muradov - a 'guest doodler'.

Tuesday's Google doodle celebrating the 186th birth anniversary of Leo Tolstoy features 10 slides, of which 3 are interstitial. The first depicts (see above) the author at work - writing at a desk with a candle for illumination, and the Google logo on the wall behind.

Upon clicking next on Google's Leo Tolstoy doodle, users see an interstitial slide of a silhouetted couple dancing in a ballroom through a window - progressing automatically to the 3rd slide with the title of perhaps the most famous novel by the author: War and Peace, and its central character (see below) Countess Natalya Ilyinichna (Natasha) Rostova on a balcony.

The next slide in Google's doodle for Leo Tolstoy's birth anniversary depicts a scene from the novel War and Peace, featuring "Pierre Bezukhov and the comet". After another interstitial scene once again with silhouetted people, we see the 6th slide with the title of the novel Anna Karenina, depicting the scene where Anna and Vronsky meet for the first time.

The doodle's next slide depicts another scene from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, with Konstantin Levin sitting alongside his future wife Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya. Viewers are lead through another interstitial slide before the doodle showcases the novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a high-court judge, with the lead character already lying (see below) on what becomes his death bed being comforted by his butler Gerasim, and with special emphasis placed on the curtains that play a symbolic role.

The next slide depicts another scene from The Death of Ivan Ilyich, presumably showing Ilyich's wife Praskovya Fedorovna Golovin with daughter Lisa Golovin, alongside her fiancee Fedor Petrishchev. The last slide features Leo Tolstoy standing (see below) in the forest of Yasnaya Polyana, where he was born on September 9 1828, with the Google logo in the background between the trees.

On the last slide of Tuesday's Google doodle, users are provided the option of replaying the slideshow, sharing it with contacts, or clicking the search icon to see search results for Leo Tolstoy, which features the author's Wikipedia page.

Guest doodler Roman Muradov explains the efforts and inspiration behind the Leo Tolstoy doodle on the Google Doodle archive page, along with steps in the creation process. For more Google doodles, visit this page.

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