Zankovsky’s artistic biography is inextricably associated with the mountain landscapes of the Caucasus. In 1864, he had to leave the Academy of Arts and to serve in the military topographic department of the General Staff of the Russian Army in Tiflis. It was assumed that Zankovsky would return to art classes after the internship, but life judged differently. An uprising broke out in Poland, and it would be unsafe for an artist of Polish origin to reside in St. Petersburg, at that time the capital of the Russian Empire. Therefore, Zankovsky decided to continue his service in Tiflis, not forgetting about painting. During the many years he spent in the Caucasus, Zankovsky traveled to Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

From 1864 Ilya Nikolaevich Zankovsky settled in Tiflis. In the last quarter of the 19th century in Tiflis, as in many important cities of Russia, began to operate a drawing school, which in 1886 was transformed to the School of Drawing and Painting at the Caucasian Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. From that year to the end of his life Ilya Nikolaevich Zankovsky worked as a teacher in that school, teaching young Caucasians his favourite occupation in life.

 
The village of Gunib was the last fortress of the legendary imam; it could be accessed only along a steep mountain trail. Zankovsky was struck by the views of Gunib. He depicted a winding road and a group of riders against the background of majestic mountains shrouded in purple pre-sunset haze.