The iconography of the Last Judgement stems from the texts of the Gospels and the last book of the New Testament, the Apocalypse. This part of the Bible is also called the Book of the Revelation of St. John the Divine, with the words of Jesus Christ noted down by St. John the Evangelist. The Bible offers very little information about St. John, apart from the note that John was on the island of Patmos where he had his first vision. He is therefore sometimes called St. John of Patmos. It is stated there that when Jesus returns, he will resurrect all who ever lived on earth and will pass judgement on them. Scholars believe that the frightening images of the Last Judgement, with their scenes of torments, was to help convince pagans to convert to Christianity. The earliest such icon in Russia, dating back to the 15th century, is now in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

The Last Judgement icon from the collection of the State Museum of Fine Arts of Khanty-Mansiysk was painted in the late 17th — early 18th century by Vologda masters. Whereas the Vologda icon-painting school started to take shape in the 14th century, the local icons acquired their striking identity in the 15th century. They were distinguished by both the sophisticated manner of painting and the colour palette. By the 17th century the Vologda icon-painting acquired more intense tones and sharp lines from the Novgorod and Moscow schools.

The icon was painted on a seasoned piece of wood, more commonly, lime, ash or another non-resinous species. The central image was originally painted inside the specially prepared recess, which in icon-painting is called a kovcheg. After some time, they stopped cutting back the central part of the icon, and this icon was painted without any such recess. The wood was covered with a linen cloth and a primer, levkas, a mixture of chalk, glue and oil. The frame was painted in ochre, a specially prepared paint made of rust and clay. The edge of the icon was traced with a red line, opush, which is missing in places.