Mortally Wounded

A soldier runs with his hands pressed against his wounded side. Vereshchagin related the picture to a death he witnessed during the defence of Samarkand’s fortress in June 1868. Painted later in Munich for the Turkestan series, a personal memory became a carefully composed encounter with the viewer.

Both hands meet at his side, with red marks on the white cloth. This gesture explains the unusual movement. Pale clothing makes hands and blood legible from a distance. One person’s injury becomes the focus, while the opposing armies’ arrangement remains outside the detailed account.

His mouth opens and his face turns aside. According to the artist’s recollection, the wounded man cried out; his last words were placed on the frame. Paint represents sound through the face’s visible position. This unframed reproduction preserves the gesture but omits the accompanying text.

One leg lifts backwards while the other touches the ground. The sharply inclined torso makes balance unstable. This can suggest someone running after losing ordinary bodily control. The large figure approaches the lower edge, making the space before the painting seem to continue his route.

A rifle lies on the left, separated from the soldier’s hands. In Vereshchagin’s account he dropped his weapon when struck. The object connects the preceding action with the present instant. His military function is interrupted as attention shifts to the sudden injury.

Other men lie behind him, while standing figures almost disappear in smoke. The fortress wall is only partly visible. This loss of clarity separates the foreground soldier from the larger battle, limiting attention to what lies immediately around a human body.

Tretyakov acquired the painting in 1874. Military authorities sharply criticised the Turkestan series for its treatment of war’s suffering. Here one arrested instant makes an individual soldier’s death a subject of public attention in its own right.