Popular rumour ascribed the tragic death in 1591 of the 8-year-old Tsarevich Dimitry, the son of Ivan IV from his marriage to Maria Nagaya, to Boris Godunov who allegedly carried out the murder so as to clear his way to the throne. In essence this incident laid the beginnings of the Time of Troubles and would later lead to the appearance of several False Dimitrys in Russia. Tsarevich Dimitry was canonised in 1606. The painting uses a layout that was traditional for a hagiographical icon: a large central image is surrounded by small border scenes, in this case scenes showing the sequence of events in the life of the murdered Tsarevich.