As a classically-trained war artist, many of Vereshchagin's works were centered around battle scenes between the Russian army and the forces of the Khanates of Khiva and Kokand.

The shadow cast by the mound, coupled with the many black orifices created by empty jaws and eye-sockets, adds a sense of depth to the painting, further exacerbating the scale of the deathly pile.

The city's walls have visibly been breached, a reference to the Siege of Samarkand in the summer of 1868 in which the Russian garrison repulsed a Bukharid attack.

The artist experienced a similar backlash when he exhibited his work in Germany, notably when Apotheosis was viewed by German field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

[2] Vereshchagin was unconcerned with the viewership bans on his paintings, but was concerned with the growing number of accusations within Russia that he was slandering the Russian army.