![Vasily Vereshchagin - The Apotheosis of War [1871]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5796/20216475764_1a5b327153_o.jpg)
Vasily Vereshchagin (Cherepovets, October 26, 1842 – Port Arthur, Manchuria, April 13, 1904) was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognised abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873. He made another exhibition of his works in St. Petersburg in 1874, where two of his paintings, namely The Apotheosis of War, dedicated "to all conquerors, past, present and to come," and Left Behind, the picture of a dying soldier deserted by his fellows, were denied a showing on the grounds that they portrayed the Russian military in a poor light.
During the Russo-Japanese War, he was invited by Admiral Stepan Makarov to join him aboard Makarov's flagship, Petropavlovsk. On April 13, 1904, Petropavlovsk struck two mines while returning to Port Arthur and sank, taking down with it most of the crew, including both Admiral Makarov and Vereshchagin. Vereshchagin's last work, a picture of a council of war presided over by Admiral Makarov, was recovered almost undamaged.
[Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow - Oil on canvas, 127 x 197 cm]